Research Activities

Our research activities focus on different aspects of building component-based software, with emphasis on four distinct topics:

• Component-based and service-oriented modeling. We focus on state-of-the-art methods of model-driven development, model and code generation and reuse. A distinct feature of our research is that we also target the runtime support for component-based systems. These activities take place mainly in the scope of the SOFA 2 project and recently also in the SOFA HI project, which focuses specifically on embedded systems.

• Verification and validation. We focus on behavioral modeling of component applications and on the source code model checking. This includes, e. g., comparing component implementation in Java with its behavior model, and verifying absence of assertion violations in C/C++ source code.

• Performance measurement and modeling. We focus on analyzing and modeling the performance-related behavior of modern multithreading and multiprocessing platforms, coupling these activities with work on robust measurement methods and tools that integrate with the software development process. Besides performance modeling and regression benchmarking, our projects also include industrial middleware performance evaluation.

• Component-based operating systems. We focus on formal reasoning about correctness and safety properties of both embedded and general-purpose operating systems. We make use of methods of formal description of operating system architecture and behavior, implementing parts of the operating system as fine-grained software components and also building on the state-of-the-art software engineering principles. Our research implementation is HelenOS.

Teaching Activities

Our department is responsible for teaching courses at bachelor, master and doctoral levels. Integrated with the university curriculum, the courses give a deep technical understanding of computer architectures, major programming languages, operating systems, middleware, and methods of reliable software design. The courses are supplemented by cross-cutting seminars open to students at all levels, featuring international researchers and industrial practitioners who bring up-to-date research and industrial topics to the interested students and faculty members.

The teaching activities of our department rely strongly on personal collaboration with individual students. We involve bachelor and master students in our research through various types of individual and group projects. This helps students in their future careers by providing a technically demanding experience that exercises the ability to formulate ideas and to apply critical reasoning.

Doctoral Students

Our department has a long tradition of bringing up excellent doctoral students who secure positions in leading industrial companies and recognized academic institutions. Our Ph.D. students participate in national and international research projects related to their main research topic and collect teaching experience in education at bachelor and master levels. This gives our Ph.D. students valuable practical experience as well as the necessary soft skills that heavily contribute to career development.