Álvaro Alonso

Pedro Reviriego, Ziheng Wang, Alvaro Alonso et al.

The complexity of Machine Learning (ML) systems increases each year, with current implementations of large language models or text-to-image generators having billions of parameters and requiring billions of arithmetic operations. As these systems are widely utilized, ensuring their reliable operation is becoming a design requirement. Traditional error detection mechanisms introduce circuit or time redundancy that significantly impacts system performance. An alternative is the use of Concurrent Error Detection (CED) schemes that operate in parallel with the system and exploit their properties to detect errors. CED is attractive for large ML systems because it can potentially reduce the cost of error detection. In this paper, we introduce Concurrent Classifier Error Detection (CCED), a scheme to implement CED in ML systems using a concurrent ML classifier to detect errors. CCED identifies a set of check signals in the main ML system and feeds them to the concurrent ML classifier that is trained to detect errors. The proposed CCED scheme has been implemented and evaluated on two widely used large-scale ML models: Contrastive Language Image Pretraining (CLIP) used for image classification and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) used for natural language applications. The results show that more than 95 percent of the errors are detected when using a simple Random Forest classifier that is order of magnitude simpler than CLIP or BERT. These results illustrate the potential of CCED to implement error detection in large-scale ML models.

Carlos Arriaga, Alejandro Pozo, Javier Conde et al.

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems generate real-time transcriptions but often miss nuances that human interpreters capture. While ASR is useful in many contexts, interpreters-who already use ASR tools such as Dragon-add critical value, especially in sensitive settings such as diplomatic meetings where subtle language is key. Human interpreters not only perceive these nuances but can adjust in real time, improving accuracy, while ASR handles basic transcription tasks. However, ASR systems introduce a delay that does not align with real-time interpretation needs. The user-perceived latency of ASR systems differs from that of interpretation because it measures the time between speech and transcription delivery. To address this, we propose a new approach to measuring delay in ASR systems and validate if they are usable in live interpretation scenarios.

Javier Conde, Andrés Munoz-Arcentales, Álvaro Alonso et al.

The rise of AI and the Internet of Things is accelerating the digital transformation of society. Mobility computing presents specific barriers due to its real-time requirements, decentralization, and connectivity through wireless networks. New research on edge computing and tiny machine learning (tinyML) explores the execution of AI models on low-performance devices to address these issues. However, there are not many studies proposing agnostic architectures that manage the entire lifecycle of intelligent cyberphysical systems. This article extends a previous architecture based on FIWARE software components to implement the machine learning operations flow, enabling the management of the entire tinyML lifecycle in cyberphysical systems. We also provide a use case to showcase how to implement the FIWARE architecture through a complete example of a smart traffic system. We conclude that the FIWARE ecosystem constitutes a real reference option for developing tinyML and edge computing in cyberphysical systems.

David Nazareno Campo, Javier Conde, Álvaro Alonso et al.

The proliferation of Generative Artificial Ingelligence (AI), especially Large Language Models, presents transformative opportunities for urban applications through Urban Foundation Models. However, base models face limitations, as they only contain the knowledge available at the time of training, and updating them is both time-consuming and costly. Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) has emerged in the literature as the preferred approach for injecting contextual information into Foundation Models. It prevails over techniques such as fine-tuning, which are less effective in dynamic, real-time scenarios like those found in urban environments. However, traditional RAG architectures, based on semantic databases, knowledge graphs, structured data, or AI-powered web searches, do not fully meet the demands of urban contexts. Urban environments are complex systems characterized by large volumes of interconnected data, frequent updates, real-time processing requirements, security needs, and strong links to the physical world. This work proposes a real-time spatial RAG architecture that defines the necessary components for the effective integration of generative AI into cities, leveraging temporal and spatial filtering capabilities through linked data. The proposed architecture is implemented using FIWARE, an ecosystem of software components to develop smart city solutions and digital twins. The design and implementation are demonstrated through the use case of a tourism assistant in the city of Madrid. The use case serves to validate the correct integration of Foundation Models through the proposed RAG architecture.