GI/ITG Workshop
Non-Functional Properties of Embedded Systems
In the last few years, the embedded system domain has evolved as one of the most dynamic and important fields for the application of computers. In many embedded applications (e.g., airplane, cars, television sets), the required dependability is orders of magnitude higher than the dependability which is given to us in the Personal Computer Sector. Since the coming highly integrated components (Systems-on-a-Chip) are expected to be less reliable than today's components, the needed dependability of embedded systems can only be achieved by architectural means at the system level.
The architecture of computer systems is shaped by the available technology on one side and the need to harness the complexity of the design at all levels on the other side. In this lecture we will discuss current technology trends that have a significant influence of the future architecture of dependable embedded systems and will speculate about new architectural approaches and model-based design methods that adress the mentioned challenges. The European Integrated Project DECOS (Dependable Component and Systems) will be used as an example.
Hermann Kopetz received his PhD degree in physics "sub auspiciis praesidentis" from the University of Vienna, Austria in 1968. He was a manager of a computer process control department at Voest Alpine in Linz, Austria, before joining the Technical University of Berlin as a professor for Computer Process Control in 1978. Since 1982 he is professor for Real-Time Systems at the Vienna University of Technology, Austria. In 1993 he was offered a position as Director of the Max Planck Institute at Saarbrücken, Germany. During the last few years, Dr. Kopetz has been a visiting professor at the University of California in Irvine and in Santa Barbara a number of times. Dr. Kopetz has published more than 150 papers and patents in the fields real-time computing, distributred computing and fault tolerance. He has been active in the organisation of many international conferences. From 1990 to 1992 he was the chairman of the IEEE TC on Fault-Tolerant Computing. In 1993 Dr. Kopetz was elected to the grade of a Fellow of the IEEE for his contributions to the field of fault-tolerant real-time local-area distributed systems. Dr. Kopetz is the Chairman of the IFIP WG 10.4 on Dependable Computing and Fault-Tolerance since 1996.