KIT will receive about 11 million euros from the German Research Foundation (DFG) for a new Collaborative Research Center (SFB) to investigate new methods for the development of modern, cyber-physical systems (CPS), i.e. software-intensive technical systems such as cars or production plants. These systems combine electronic, mechanical and software-controlled components that must interact closely with each other and thus reach a level of complexity that is hardly controllable by individual developers, even at abstract architectural levels. Therefore the development is made with so-called "views" on the system, kind of submodels, which are specific for the tasks of developers. Due to the manifold interdependencies of the views, the SFB is dedicated to novel methods of consistency maintenance. Starting point are methods from software engineering, product design and formal methods, which have already been developed at KIT.

Within the scope of the SFB, novel methods for so-called "Advanced Systems Engineering" are being researched in order to make the design of CPS more agile and thus more efficient by maintaining consistency. This should enable shorter development cycles and faster updates. The goal is to install updates easily and promptly, similar to smartphones and to continuously adapt CPS to changing requirements, improve reliability and thus security and introduce new features. In addition to KIT with spokesperson Professor Dr. Ralf Reussner, the University of Mannheim and the Technical Universities of Dresden and Munich are also involved.

Further links:

• Press release of KIT

Image: adimas / stock.adobe.com