Distributed systems are challenging to implement correctly because they must handle concurrency and failure. Networks can delay, duplicate, reorder, and drop packets, and machines can fail at any time. Even when designs are proven correct on paper, it is difficult to avoid subtle bugs in implementations.
μWWVB is a watch stand that automatically sets the time on atomic wristwatches where regular WWVB signal isn’t available. The system acquires the correct time via GPS and sets radio-controlled clocks by emulating the amplitude-modulated WWVB time signal.
I recently had another chance to use a fancy algorithm to solve a real-world problem. These opportunities don’t come up all that often, but when they do, it’s pretty exciting!
Every year, MIT HKN has a bunch of eligible students who need to be matched to committees. As part of the assignment process, the officers decide how many spots are available on each committee, and then we have every eligible rank the committees. In the past, officers matched people manually, looking at the data and trying to give each person one of their 1st or 2nd choices. Unfortunately, this is time-consuming and unlikely to result in an optimal assignment if we’re trying to maximize overall happiness.