Anyway, if anyone is still here, my new project blog is here: http://nicholaspatrick.posterous.com

I assume one type of neuron in a network with delays ranging from 1 to 20 milliseconds. More neuron types can be added later. I want to be able to define small polychronous groups of neurons that can be combined with copies of themselves and with other polychronous groups.

The reason for defining the network in terms of polychronous groups is that these groups can represent simple or complex calculations, memory units, etc. The polychronous group representation is basically an encoding of the synapses between a starting neuron position and other neurons such that activation of the initial neurons will cause activation of subsequent neurons if the synapse gains are high enough for activation to occur.

The next grammar layer is that of the network. The network is built by overlaying polychronous groups on top of each other with starting neuron offsets and rotation in the grid defined at the network. The polychronous groups defined at the lower grammatical layer define a map between points. The points define the neurons of the network. The delays between neurons are defined by providing a function of delay per unit distance between neurons. Thus by selection of the mapping by polychronous group, delays are inherently defined.

As you might guess, some neurons may be defined with some/no inputs or outputs. If there are no inputs, there is no point to keeping the neuron. If there are no outputs, and the outputs that exist are not used for network outputs, then those neurons could be pruned. If a polychronous group is placed such that some neurons would extend beyond the limits of the network, then the position of the neurons extending past would be wrapped.

Different neuron types could then be added by specifying different layers of neurons with the same grid as the first type. The polychronous group layer would then select the layer that is being connected for each neuron. If this is utilized, a meta-grammar could be defined which is weighted for the probability of selection that you desire.

More to come on this later.

I’ve got to say, I kind of feel dirty dealing with the Java language at all (Clojure is built on top of Java)… but I’m dealing.

The stated reason for layers is to provide a method by which you can maintain genetic diversity in the population without getting stuck in a local optimum. I think you could get a similar type effect by creating fitness layered populations. Section off different members by fitness and only allow breeding at that layer or below. Of course, you could probably extend the concept even further by simply limiting individual breeding choices to individuals who have lower fitness and getting rid of layers entirely. I’d call this the ‘Popularity limited breeding method’. You can’t initiate breeding above your station.

Now, I’ve heard of hierarchical fitness layering, but I think there’s some synergy between the methods that could result in faster convergence on the global optimum. The multiple age layers allow for competition only with similar age solutions, but allows breeding with lower fitness individuals. Once an individual is too old for it’s layer, it either graduates to the next layer if it is fit enough, or it is retired. Another way of looking at this is that the rate of improvement of that strain of genetic material has leveled out enough that it isn’t worth exploring any more. So why not take the fitness layer concept and retire solutions when their average rate of improvement of fitness drops below their competition. Of course you’d want to keep your peak fitness individuals via elitism, but you shouldn’t need to keep all of the sub-optimal solutions when they loose their steam.

Any way, I haven’t tested my popularity contest method, so I have no idea of the merit.

I’m building this programming program in Clojure, which is a newish dialect of Lisp implemented on top of Java. I’ve never used a Lisp before, so it is an exciting learning curve. I’m really getting into this whole functional programming kick.

Some guys needed to implement a Fortran equivalent function for a Simulink model I made yesterday… they wanted some initial code to start from, so I implemented it in an embedded Matlab block. I initially conceived the program in a functional style, then I realized that they needed to implement it in Fortran. Not the most functional-friendly language.  Oh well.

My Muse is pointing in a different direction for now. I’m programming up a genetic programming tool and am considering having another go at my masters project… except better. Hint, it involves spiking neural networks and polychronization.

Anyway, I don’t have much time for much of anything lately, so don’t expect much of anything soon.

Erin and I have been having a hell of a time with Dish Network lately.  A couple of months ago, our Dish receiver started flaking out.  All sorts of shows would fail to record, old shows would start recording when only new ones should, shows would get caught in an endless loop as though skipping like a record.  We got the receiver replaced and found that the skipping problem improved, turns out that the hard-drive was going bad.  Unfortunately, some of the shows were still failing to record.

Whenever a show failed to record, it showed up in the schedule history as failed due to signal loss.  However, we found that while some shows would fail to record to tv2, we would simultaneously be able to watch tv1.  This got our interest piqued.  The technician came back to check the signal strength and replace various components several times.  We even had the receiver replaced again.  Over the next month or so, we added a cable directly from the satellite to the receiver through the back door…then a cable directly from the receiver to tv2 in an attempt to bypass any possible wiring problems in the house or electronic components.

Now, over time Erin and I had come to the conclusion that there was a specific sequence of events that could force the receiver to not record a show.  And based on this sequence, we’d come to the conclusion that it was most likely a software problem.  These are the arguments that Dish Network folks gave for the problem:

1) There are signal problems, need to replace something in the system – They replaced the LMBs, diplexers, mixers, etc…and eventually bypassed everything with cables through the house.  Not the problem

Me – It seems like a software issue

2) This must be a problem with the receiver – There was a problem with the original receiver which was fixed by replacing it.  The problem with the failed recordings was exhibited on replacement receivers 2 and 3.  The probability of this same exact problem being hardware and being present in 3 receivers is probably astronomical.  Keep in mind that both Dish Network customer service and the local satellite folks claimed that this problem is really weird and they haven’t heard of anything like it that isn’t fixed with component or receiver replacement.  (Yes, grounding can be a problem, but we fixed that last year when we went through Dish problems)

Me – I think it’s software…maybe a combination software/hardware issue

3) The power line driving the receiver must be dirty, or somehow non-standard – House power isn’t always pure and correct.  The only way I had to measure the power was with my multimeter.  Voltage and frequency were dead on.  I don’t know if there were some other strange harmonics or other noise, but given that we have a lot of other electronic equipment hooked into the electric grid that hasn’t fried, I don’t believe our power is that bad.  Additionally, we had our original receiver for about a year before it flaked out.  The 2 replacement receivers started with the problem immediately.

Me – I don’t see how it could be anything but software

4) It could be some weird signal reflection deal from the TV through the HDMI cable – We use component video.  Not the problem.

Ok, we’ve gone through a lot of troubleshooting here and have no way forward with Dish.  When we talk to customer service (level 1, lvl 1 supervisor, advanced tech support, account specialist, etc), they say that the only things they can do are to replace the receiver or request a tech visit.  I’ve been dealing with the local satellite company (Valley Satellite in Decatur AL) directly, they have been very competent and have worked well with us.  Greg, the owner, knows the VP of tech support at EchoStar (Dan) and says he’ll give him a call.  EchoStar develops receivers for Dish.  Dan gives me a call and tells me they are about to make a software update that probably fixes the problem and to hold tight…it should start rolling out that week.  That was a month ago.  The software version number (L627RJ2B-N) hasn’t changed since we first noticed this problem.  (note that I think L627 is the important part of the software version number).  So either Dan was blowing smoke up my ass, or he didn’t know what he was talking about.  Greg tells me that Valley Satellite will be supporting DirecTV soon…hmm…

The one thing that Dish has maintained is that no-one else is experiencing the problem that we have.  Here is the clincher, my in-laws have a Dish 722 receiver setup similar to ours.  We visited over the 4th of July, tested the system, and were able to recreate the same exact issue.  I am convinced that this problem is a software issue.  The problem started very abruptly a couple months ago and has been very repeatable on multiple systems.

So, if you want to get a discount on your Dish Network bill, or if you want to see if you have the same problem, try out the sequence below and see what happens.  If you get it to happen, you should be able to argue your way out of $6 or more from your monthly bill each month until it is fixed.  That is the monthly cost of the DVR service.  If you decide to call Dish Network, please reference a trouble ticket entered on July 4th by Jessica (Operator ID: LWZ) from Advanced Tech Support.  Supposedly if enough people call about the same problem, they might look into fixing it.

If you’ve made it this far, please post a comment if you are having the same problem.

Sequence for failed recording

1) We usually see the problem first thing in the morning.  The receiver usually does a software update check at 3 AM and resets, so you may want to do this before any recordings start…or reset the receiver before you begin if it doesn’t work otherwise.

2) Record 10+ minutes of a show.  We usually just use a half-hour show previously recorded.

3) Set up two 30 minute recordings back-to-back to TV 2.  The recordings don’t have to be on the same channel, just set to record on TV 2.  (e.g. 7:00 Curious George, 7:30 Sid the Science Kid)

4) Prior to the start of the first show, start watching the recorded show on TV 2 so that you are watching it through the start of the first recording. (e.g. start watching a 30 minute show at 6:50)

5) After the first recording has started, turn TV2 off. (including the dish transmission to TV 2.  Don’t just turn the TV off) (e.g. stop watching TV2 at 7:05)

6) Turn TV1 on to watch the previously recorded show prior to the ending of the first recording such that it will finish after recording 2 has begun. (i.e. start watching at 7:25)

If you follow the steps above, when TV 2 is supposed to be recording the second show, you can look in the DVR->Schedule menu, and you will see the recording is stopped for ‘Service Shutoff’.  When the recording “finishes” and you look back at the schedule, it will show that the recording was skipped due to signal loss.

After this point, nothing will record or play on TV 2 unless you go to the TV 2 DVR menu and start an old recording.  Once you start, then stop a recording, live TV will return and programs will record.  If you turn TV 2 back on and just leave it, nothing will be on the screen.  Eventually TV 1 claims to lose signal and it goes through the process of recapturing satellite signal and downloading guide data.  If you do fix TV 2 via the old recording, it will work fine for the rest of the day.

Please help me out here.  I just want to get the problem fixed.  My wife and I have been on the phone numerous times, hung up on, ignored, blown off, etc by Dish Network.  Their customer service representatives have scripts that do not cover any problem out of the ordinary.  I’m a freaking aerospace engineer who knows how to do troubleshooting and problem reporting.  If Dish would give me the system definition documents, schematics and software, I’d find the problem and fix it for them.  Unfortunately things do not work that way.  I’ve sent some of the tech support folks emails with the details, my wife and I have described the problem to a lot of tech support people many times.  Can anyone help?

I figure there are two main methods to payment processing that I can go with.  First is to open a merchant account and receive all payments in my own account.  Then I could turn around and settle the accounts with the restaurants on a 2 or 4 week schedule.  Second is to offer an eBay type of environment where the restaurant can sign up with their own payment processor and I’ll simply host their payment method on my site. 

Either way requires restaurants to even want to sign up.  Hmm.  I need to get it done so that I finish this big experiment.  Let’s say this, if this ends up flopping, I’ll make the mapping feature more visible so that you can see the boundary lines for any restaurant.  That was the original idea anyway.