Shell commands

For my own memory:

The following command extracts the line with the execution time and the one above it to a new file:

grep ^"Elapsed" output4.3.txt -B 1 | grep -Ev ^"--" > filtered.output4.3.txt

The evenodd script splits the even and odd lines into separate files. The odd file contains the lines with the solution cost and the even file contains the lines with the execution time:

./evenodd.sh filtered.output4.3.txt timelines.4.3.txt costlines.4.3.txt

Finally, the following command extracts just the fields of interest:

cut -d " " -f 5 timelines.4.3.txt > times.4.2.txt
cut -d " " -f 5 costlines.4.3.txt > costs.4.2.txt

And here is a better shell script that makes the job easier:


#!/bin/bash
grep ^"Elapsed" $1 -B 1 | grep -Ev ^"--" | awk 'NR%2==0' | cut -d " " -f 5 > $2
grep ^"Elapsed" $1 -B 1 | grep -Ev ^"--" | awk 'NR%2==1' > $3

The Path

Morpheus said, "There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path." How true!

SIP scans

Some North American networks are seeing aggressive scans on SIP ports. The operator personnel managed to trace and relate these to toll fraud. People are using tools to discover devices with open SIP ports, and direct illegal calls through them. Not my PhD thesis, but interesting stuff. Someone might find it useful.

Trouble in Ubuntu land

To be able to run several simulations simultaneously, I tried installing RedHat Linux 9.0 on a couple of machines. One was a newer Core 2 Duo machine which had a hard drive interface that RedHat Linux 9.0 couldn't recognize, so I earlier gave up on that machine and installed on an older machine. However, JVM kept crashing on that older machine. So, I installed Ubuntu 8.04 after downloading it from the neighboring machine. I then installed JDK 1.5 update 15 and ANT 1.6.5 followed by building of TOTEM simulator. However, when I ran the simulator, the simulator window was restricted to the left half of the maximized application window. There were also some exceptions on the console. I searched for the reason and found this page helpful. I downgraded the X library as suggested on that page and everything is working fine now. I do get some exceptions in some simulations sometimes, which I am trying to track down and eliminate. Ubuntu is running pretty nice.

Simulator touch-ups

We want to upload a more finished form of the simulator soon. For this reason, we've been working to remove difficult operating procedures from the simulation testbed and to streamline the operation in addition to bug-removal. With some great help from Dr. Zartash, I've done some major touch-ups and we'll soon be finally uploading this new version of our GELS simulator. After our presentation at IEEE GlobeCom 2007, Dr. Zartash will be delivering a tutorial session at Doha Qatar next year. We are planning to hand out CD-ROMs containing our simulator source code during the tutorial.

Gearing up for conference

Last night, Dr. Zartash and Dr. Shahab Baqai initiated the launch of the 2nd International Networking and Communications Conference (INCC) 2008. The first one was held in 2004 and was a huge success. This time is expected to be even better. I'm also chipping in some volunteer efforts. We've inintiated the IEEE Communications Society Technical Co-sponsorship request and will soon move forward with the IEEE Conference Acquisition. The conference will be held on May 1-3, 2008. The conference website is coming up real soon.

For all Pakistani researchers

If you are a researcher in Pakistan, who has published a research paper in a conference abroad, you may avail the HEC Travel Grant for Conference Paper Presentation Abroad. However, be wary of the following:
1- Have a proof of oral presentation during the conference attached with the application for travel grant. This means a letter from the organizers.
2- When filling the application form, do not pay any attention to the airfare being the lowest with the "most direct route." Get PIA fare only. They dont say it in the application form, but the post approval sanction letter says that you must travel by PIA and if you dont, you must document the reason for not doing so. That requires approval from the Finance Ministry. If getting the grant approved isnt difficult enough, getting through another level of bureaucracy will be nearly impossible.
Happy presenting

Conditionally cleared PhD qualifying exam

I was declared conditionally passed in the PhD qualifying exam held in our department at LUMS. The condition is to clear a course in Digital System Design with a minimum of B+ within the next one year. I am happy to have moved closer to another milestone.