Title: Designing Reliable Distributed Systems

Abstract: Software is disrupting one industry after another. Currently, the automotive industry is under pressure to innovate in the area of software. New, innovative approaches to vehicles and their HW/SW architectures are required and are currently subsumed under the term “SW-defined vehicle”. However, this trend does not stop at the vehicle boundaries, but also includes communication with off-board edge and cloud services. Thinking it through further, this leads to a breakthrough technology we call “Reliable Distributed Systems”, which enables the operation of vehicles where time and safety-critical sensing and computing tasks are no longer tied to the vehicle, but can be shifted into an edge-cloud continuum. This allows a variety of novel applications and functional improvements but also has a tremendous impact on automotive HW/SW architectures and the value chain. Reliable distributed systems are not limited to automotive use cases. The ubiquitous and reliable availability of distributed computing and sensing in real-time enable novel applications and system architectures in a variety of domains: from industrial automation over building automation to consumer robotics. However, designing reliable distributed systems raises several issues and poses new challenges for edge and cloud computing stacks as well as electronic design automation.

Title: Software Architecture Challenges in Industrial Process Automation: from Code Generation to Cloud-native Service Orchestration

Abstract: Large, distributed software systems with integrated embedded systems support production plant operators in controlling and supervising complex industrial processes, such as power generation, chemical refinement, or paper production. With several million lines of code these Operational Technology (OT) systems grow continuously more complex, while customers increasingly expect a higher degree of automation, easier customization, and faster time-to-market for new features. This has led to an ongoing adoption of modern Information Technology (IT) reference software architectures and approaches, e.g., middlewares, model-based development, and microservices. This talk presents illustrative examples of this trend from technology transfer projects at ABB Research, highlighting open issues and research challenges. These include information modeling in M2M middlewares for plug-and-play functionality, code generation from engineering requirements to speed up customization, as well as online updates of containerized control software on virtualized infrastructures.

Welcome reception Cocktail at the Lopesan Baobab Resort.

Title: From Traditional to Digital: How software, data and AI are transforming the embedded systems industry

Abstract: With digitalization and with technologies such as software, data, and artificial intelligence, companies in the embedded systems domain are experiencing a rapid transformation of their conventional businesses. While the physical products and associated product sales provide the core revenue, these are increasingly being complemented with service offerings, new data-driven services, and digital products that allow for continuous value creation and delivery to customers. This talk explores the difference between what constitutes a traditional and a digital company and details the typical evolution path embedded systems companies take when transitioning towards becoming digital companies. The talk focuses on the changes associated with business models, ways-of-working and ecosystem engagements and provides concrete examples based on action-oriented research conducted in close collaboration with companies in the embedded systems domain.

Title: Open-Source Research on Time-predictable Computer Architecture

Abstract: Real-time systems need time-predictable computers to be able to guarantee that computation can be performed within a given deadline.For worst-case execution time analysis we need detailed knowledgeof the processor and memory architecture. Providing the design of a processor in open-source enables the development of worst-cease execution time analysis tools without the unsafe reverse engineering of processor architectures. Open-source software is currently the basis of many Internet services, e.g., an Apache web server running on top of Linux with a web application written in Java. Furthermore, for most programming languages in use today, there are a open-source compilers available. However, hardware designs are seldom published in open-source. Furthermore, many artifacts developed in research, especially hardware designs, are not published in open-source. The two main arguments formulated against publishing research in open source are:(1) “When I publish my source before the paper gets accepted, someone may steal my ideas” and(2) “My code is not pretty enough to publish it, I first need to clean it up (which seldom happens)”. In this paper and in the presentation I will give counterarguments for those two issues. I will present the successful T-CREST/Patmos research project, where almost all artifacts have been developed in open-source from day one. Furthermore, I will present experiences using the Google/Skywater open-sourcetool flow to produce a Patmos chip with 12 students within a one semester course.

At the social event, we will show you the Canarian culture and its prehispanic origins in the park Mundo Aborigen. The visitors are welcomed by a traditional aboriginal town from an outstanding location, outside of the touristic area. Finally, we will admire the ravine of Fataga, which is part of the Gran Canaria World Biosphere Reserve declared by UNESCO. At 19:00 is the comeback so you will have free time to get ready for Social Dinnner at  20:00h at the Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso.

Social dinner at 19:45 h at the Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort & Thalasso including a traditional Canarian music concert. 

Title: Looking for the limits of electronics for autonomous microsystems

Abstract: Autonomous microsystems are microscale systems that do not need external power to operate and communicate for a given period of time. If we can build autonomous microsystems even with dimensions as small as the diameter of a human hair (< 100 μm) new use cases for sensing applications could be addressed. For example, microsensors could be embedded into fibers to produce smart clothing, new approaches to in-vitro and in-body sensing could be performed, etc. This keynote will address the challenges that electronic circuits must meet to be part of and support the design and integration of autonomous microsystems.