Research

Research Focus: Software Engineering for Embedded Systems

Nowadays software is being used in application areas with high demands on specific quality attributes. Software is in most cases part of a system which is of a distributed nature. Furthermore, the extent of software products is steadily increasing. Modern engineering methods – e.g. object-orientation – complement established approaches and displace them in part.

The research conducted by our working group is focused on methods for developing embedded software that meets high quality standards. Current goals concern object-oriented methods, especially with respect to applications in safety-critical, highly available real-time systems. The ongoing growth of software and its distributed architecture is particularly considered. Many projects are conducted in collaboration with industrial partners.

Current Projects

Automotive, Railway and Avionics Multicore Systems (ARAMiS)

Contact Person: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Peter Liggesmeyer

The German Ministry of Education and Research supports the development of novel computer processor concepts for the operation in future traffic systems. The goal of “ARAMiS” is the improvement of the operational safety of automobiles, trains and airplanes. Within the scope of ARAMis new concepts for the application of powerful computer processors with multiple cores in transportation and traffic systems are developed to increase the safety, efficiency and the comfort of those systems.

Up to now only single-core processors are used in airplanes and automobiles, because their behavior can be predicted with certainty which is a prerequisite for the certification of safety-critical systems. But single-core processors are reaching their limits and are increasingly disappearing from the market. The ARAMiS project unites well-known research institutes and fabricators from automobile-, transportation- and aircraft industries as well as hard- and software producers to develop highly performant multi-core processors.

ARAMiS is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and more than 30 industrial partners.

Scalable Visual Analytics: Interactive Visual Analysis Systems of Complex Information Spaces (DFG-SPP)

http://visualanalytics.de
Contact Person: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Peter Liggesmeyer

In research and development as well as numerous application areas fast growing data sets develop with ever higher complexity and dynamics. A central challenge is to filter the substantial information and to communicate it to humans in an appropriate way. Interactive visual data analysis techniques extend the perceptual and cognitive abilities of humans with automatic data analysis techniques. Only by a combination of data analysis (Data Mining) and visualization techniques an effective access to otherwise unmanageably complex data sets is possible. Visual analysis techniques make the unexpected more easily discoverable and help to gain new cognitions and insights.

DFG-SPP is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Finished Projects

Virtual and Extended Reality for highest safety and reliability of Embedded Systems (ViERforES)

http://vierfores.iese.fraunhofer.de
Contact Person: Dr.-Ing. Patric Keller
2008-07-01 to 2010-12-31

The greater part of the microcontrollers produced worldwide is used in embedded systems with the applications ranging from domestic appliance to airplanes. Many devices that we naturally use in our everyday lives fall into this category. Embedded systems are of enormous technical and economic importance. Embedded systems are never “standalone” systems, but are always connected to and communicating with other systems, e.g. mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electronic or information systems. These systems have a major influence on the properties of safety, reliability and availability and are thus decisive factors in automotive-, medical- and production engineering as well as the energy industry, all of which are application areas considered in the project. The primary goal of the project is the enhancement of the safety and reliability of complex technical systems by interlinking methods and technologies with these application areas. The methods and technologies are developed and evaluated tailored to specific applications as well as in a generally applicable way. This follows the goal of transferring methodological knowledge to the application areas and of generalizing the methods to enable a future-proof software engineering.

ViERforES is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Innovation alliance for Embedded Systems, Software Plattform Embedded Systems 2020 (SPES2020)

http://spes2020.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/
Contact Person: Dr. Mario Trapp ( ed.refohnuarf.esei@ppart.oiram )
2008-07-01 to 2010-12-31

Embedded systems are of vital importance in many high-tech branches. Especially in Germany the high productivity- and quality-requirements that apply to any technical product “Made in Germany” must also be applied to embedded systems. German quality is well-known precisely in those areas that include a high proportion of embedded software, like avionics, automotive-, medical-, manufacturing- and automation engineering. The targeted development of high-quality embedded systems is a key competence. The management of increasingly powerful, comprising, distributed and thus more complex embedded systems is a scientific and technical challenge.

SPES2020 („Softwareplattform Embedded Systems 2020“) is a national innovation alliance with the goal of professionalizing the cross-domain production process. SPES unites the effort of 8 research partners and 15 industrial partners (e.g. Siemens, EADS).

In this context the research group “Software Engineering: Dependability” works on the question of how software engineering and safety engineering can be interleaved more closely, e.g. by automatically deriving safety models from the software design and - vice versa - the integration of measures into the software development process to increase safety.

	Superordinated page: SEDA