Research Focus

Software Technology and its Applicability in Cyber-Physical, Mobile, and Hardware-Oriented Systems

Software is not only a central element of traditional computer systems but rather the centerpiece of distributed applications, and to an increasing extent part of products and devices. In this main research topic, the development of architectures, technologies, complex software systems, and applications for distributed and also hardware-related systems is investigated. Topics of research are, amongst others, software as a service, engineering of product-lines, component-based and model-driven software-engineering, methods of developing context-sensitive, adaptive systems, internet of things, mobile computing, mobile embedded systems, and optimization of energy efficiency.

The Internet of Services, Cloud Computing and Internet Security

Contact person: Prof. Dr. Matthias Wählisch Dr.-Ing. Stefan Köpsell,

A continuously growing amount of data, services and virtualized computer resources and business processes are transferred to the internet, thus being ubiquitous and retrievable from anywhere. Manifold research activities of this strategic central research topic comprise the development of methods, processes and applications in fields like service and cloud computing, mashups and composition, rich internet applications, context adaptation, multi-facetted data security, and management of heterogeneous nets.

Data-Intense Computing and Big Data, Knowledge Extraction

Contact person: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Nagel

Nowadays, data in the web and in social networks have to be categorized into structured data, partly structured data (e.g. documents), and unstructured data (e.g. pictures, videos). Additionally, dynamic data flows are increasing, e.g. those from sensor networks that require real-time processing and analysis. Providing access to these data is one of the "Big Data" challenges, associated with boosting research fields like internet information retrieval, extraction of knowledge and information, data clustering, and data analysis. All this requires new, intelligent ways of recognizing, processing, and analyzing data, which then have to scale on flexible IT-infrastructures, making use of the necessary resources.

Human-Computer Interaction and Visual Computing

Contact person: Prof. Dr. Raimund Dachselt, Prof. Dr. Stefan Gumhold

Our vision is to provide human beings intuitive access to computer technology that is an increasingly ubiquitous part of all areas of human activity. This includes research on mobile devices, new input and display technologies, and interaction with digitally augmented or enhanced objects of everyday life, which we call "everywhere interaction". For this, fundamental questions concerning interaction design, usability, accessibility, user experience, and technical applicability have to be answered. Research focusses on natural and multi-modal human-computer-interaction with interactive surfaces in mobile/ubiquitous contexts, barrier free IT and accessibility for all, and also addresses related didactic questions. In the field of visualization, computer graphics, and image processing modern methods for data exploration and analysis, for perception-oriented visualization of complex scientific data, for information visualization, for 3D scene understanding, interactive learning, or interactive picture segmentation are being thoroughly investigated.

Formal Modeling and Analysis of Artificial Systems

Contact person: Prof. Dr. Franz Baader

In this main research focus, artificial systems are defined as systems being set up by humans. These systems are either software-systems by definition or they are fully or partially being operated by software. In computer science, the formal modeling of systems like these is a fundamental step during the transition from an informal task description to a formal approach of the problem to be solved. Using formal models with a well-defined semantics facilitates the exchange of models and allows for automatic analysis of models. This analysis encompasses the proof of functional attributes of the system (e.g. verification of correctness) as well as the investigation of non-functional attributes (e.g. response period, quality of output). The development of and research on modeling languages is in the center of this research focus. Furthermore, the development and implementation of methods of analysis for formal models by using methods of algebra, artificial intelligence, theoretical computer science, and probability methods are being investigated.

Modeling, Machine Learning and Simulation of Natural Systems

Contact person: Prof. Dr. Bjoern Andres Prof. Dr. Ivo F. Sbalzarini

The process of understanding natural systems, e.g. from biology, our physical environment, or medicine, is advanced by the computer-assisted analysis of complex data as well as by modeling and simulation of natural systems. Thus, restrictions concerning controllability and observability can be overcome. Picture processing and picture understanding (computer vision), computer simulation of continuous and discrete system models (computational science) are in the focus of this research topic. Numerical optimization - both discrete and continuous - as well as machine learning of these complex and frequently structured models, are crucial aspects in this field of research. In an interdisciplinary process, new theories and methods are being developed and implemented. Applications range from systems biology (Center of Systems Biology Dresden) to human-machine-interaction and robotics up to engineering (Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden). Efficient algorithms and the use of high-performance parallel computers allow for managing huge amounts of data and model complexities.