Synapse

Monthly Newsletter from CNI

Issue - April 2024

We're excited to announce that registration for the fourth annual CNI Summer School is now open! Join us from June 10 to 14 for a special short course by Prof. Jean-Francois Chamberland from Texas A&M University, on Algorithmic Structures for Emerging Wireless Networks and Statistical Inference in Large Dimensional Spaces. Tailored for senior undergraduate and young graduate students in engineering (ECE/CS/EE or related streams) and science backgrounds, this five-day event promises valuable opportunities for learning and networking. Secure your spot by registering here before May 15, 2024. Don't miss out!

Join us at the upcoming talk on "Towards an Open Mobile Networking Ecosystem" by Prof. Mahesh K Marina, from the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh , on 16/04/2024 at 17:00 hrs IST.

The keynote address was delivered online by Brendan Gregg , an Intel Fellow and renowned author of "BPF Performance Tools" and "Systems Performance." He provided insights into the latest developments and future directions of eBPF technology, setting the tone for the day's discussions.

Throughout the workshop, industry experts shared their perspectives on various aspects of eBPF technology. Dushyant Behl, Research Software Engineer at IBM Research , in his talk on eBPF Networking highlighted how it enables efficient packet flows and supports Container Networking Interfaces in modern network environments. Deepak S, System Software Architect at Intel Corporation, discussed the integration of Calico with eBPF, shedding light on how this combination enhances network security and performance in containerized environments. Rahul Jadhav, co-founder at AccuKnox, highlighted various security use cases of eBPF and addressed the challenges involved in implementing eBPF-based security solutions.

Palaniappan Ramanathan, Cloud Software Engineer at Intel , explored the role of eBPF in application tracing and telemetry, showcasing its capabilities in monitoring and optimizing application performance. Madhan Raj K, Architect at Samsung R&D, provided a brief overview of eBPF's potential applications in smartphone environments, hinting at its role in enhancing mobile network performance and security. Santhosh Fernandes, Architect at Walmart Labs , discussed the deployment of eBPF programs at scale in enterprise environments, sharing insights into the challenges and benefits of using eBPF in large-scale networks.

Provably Robust DPO: Aligning Language Models with Noisy Feedback

In this talk, Dr. Sayak Ray Chowdhury talks about learning from preference-based feedback, aiming to align language models with human interests. Such models exhibit impressive capabilities across tasks, yet noisy preference data may hinder their performance. This work introduces a general framework for policy optimization to address the theoretical gap surrounding heuristics proposed by practitioners in mitigating the impact of noisy preference data.They introduce rDPO, a robust version of direct preference optimization, addressing the challenge of noisy preference data. rDPO is shown to be tolerant to noise, with experiments on real datasets confirming its robustness compared to traditional methods.

Between Promise and Reality: Navigating the Landscape of Indic Language LLMs Amidst Hyperbole and Hope

Dr. Gaurav Aggarwal discusses the emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) tailored for Indic languages, highlighting their importance for linguistic inclusivity in the digital age. This talk  examines the current landscape of Indic language LLMs, addressing both their achievements and challenges. He also underscores the broader implications of these advancements on society, culture, and the digital economy in the Indian subcontinent, emphasizing the importance of transparency, ethical AI development, and community engagement.

Streaming Codes for Three-Node Relay Networks With Burst Erasures

In this talk, Prof. Nikhil Krishnan discusses one of the challenges posed by packet losses in real-time interactive communication, namely the timely recovery of message packets at the receiver. Streaming codes, as packet-level erasure codes, play a crucial role in facilitating the delay-constrained recovery of message packets under such circumstances. He explores a three-node scenario with source-relay and relay-destination links, focusing on cases of packet loss on both links and derives an upper bound on streaming code rates. The main focus is on a novel streaming code design which achieve rates close to this upper bound.

Large-Scale Study of User Behaviour, Expectations and Engagement with Android Permissions

In this talk, Dr. Sai Teja Peddinti discusses findings from a global study on user behaviors, expectations, and engagement with Android application permissions. Conducted across 10 countries and regions, the study involved 1,719 participants recruited through mobile advertising, participants used a specially designed application for 30 days, which recorded their behaviors, rationales, expectations, and attitudes. The talk focuses on analyzing grant and deny decisions, revealing insights such as users being twice as likely to deny unexpected permission requests and requests accompanied by explanations having a lower deny rate.