Embedded System Design (ESD)
Smaller, faster, more intelligent - but how secure?
Today, many products have integrated electronics. In a modern midsize car alone, numerous electronic systems are used to optimize comfort, safety and effi ciency. In the traffi c and transportation segment, this type of hard- and software system is also incorporated into traffic infrastructures; safety systems; and the coordination of transportation and materials fl ows in logistics. In the health sector embedded electronic systems have become indispensable, improving quality of life and off ering a range of options to maintain and regain health. Examples of such medically relevant solutions include hearing aids, pacemakers, mobile ECG or »lab-on-chip« devices that improve diagnosis and treatment options.
Some of these products have only become possible thanks to rapid developments in manufacturing technology that have allowed embedded hardware and software systems (HW/SW) to be produced in ever smaller, more compact forms. This results in a continuous stream of new challenges for industry and research institutions. Ever smaller products must be incorporated into ever more complex system architectures that must simultaneously meet the increasing requirements of modern applications regarding processing speed and energy efficiency. In addition to this, globalized markets mean growing time pressure for development work and shorter product cycles. Developers are also faced with high cost pressures, since competition among mass-market products is fierce and margins are low. The smallest diff erences in price are often key competitive advantages. Many applications have the further complicating factor that the embedded HW/SW systems are often deployed in security-critical applications.
Various research groups at OFFIS and Oldenburg University have been investigating these issues and challenges for many years now. Their goals include modeling; analysis; and optimization at all design levels plus the automated synthesis of embedded HW/SW systems regarding performance, energy consumption, manufacturing fluctuations, ageing effects, environmental influences, required chip area, and, finally, costs. Further focuses are the development of suitable specification, verification, and synthesis methods for component-based design processes as well as formal analysis methods to ensure implementation requirements.
This work will be transferred to the Embedded System Design competence cluster to facilitate its bundling and research within a larger context. This will facilitate the development of methods, tools, and standards that assist the effi cient, secure development of microelectronic embedded systems in industrial design processes.
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Projects
2023
ISOLDE
Customizable Instruction Sets and Open Leveraged Designs of Embedded riscv processors
Duration: 2023 - 20262021
KI embedded
KI-Grundlagenentwicklung für Embedded-Systems mit Leitanwendungen in Virtueller Sensorik und Brennstoffzellenregelung
Duration: 2021 - 2024 VE-VIDES
Duration: 2021 - 2024
2019
2017
Productive4.0
Electronics and ICT as enabler for digital industry and optimized supply chain management covering the entire product lifecycle
Duration: 2017 - 2020 Digitaler Knoten 4.0
Duration: 2017 - 2019
2016
Publications
2026
Modeling service choreographies and collaborations for autonomous mixed-fleet systems: using BPMN, IEC 61499, and SysML
Bianca Wiesmayr, Alois Zoitl, Jörg Walter, David Hästbacka ; Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering; 06 / 2026
Physics-Guided Digital Twin for Power-Based Anomaly Detection in Industrial Robots
Muhammad Uddin, Jörg Walter, Michele Lora, Davide Cannizzaro, Davide Maria Gatta, Franco Fummi; IECON26; 2026
Runtime Monitoring for Safe Autonomous Mobile Robots: Special Session Paper
Mehlhop, Sven and Oppenheimer, Frank; 2026 Forum on Specification & Design Languages (FDL); 2026
2025
A Formal Model Transformation from Data Flow Models to IEC 61499 Models
Malte Grave, Markus Meingast, Verena Klös, Alois Zoitl, Lisa Sonnleithner, Jörg Walter; IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA); 09 / 2025
Aufrüsten der Prozessüberwachung im Druckguss, Teil 1 von 4
Slava Pachandrin, Jörg Walter, Julian Bargfrede, Norbert Hoffmann, Klaus Dilger; GIESSEREI - Fachzeitschrift für Technik, Innovation und Management; 01 / 2025
Contract-based design for robust networked control systems in industrial automation
Friederike Bruns, Jörg Walter, Andreas Rauh; ISA transactions; 09 / 2025
Enabling Manual-Controllable Compilation for Dataflow CGRAs
Felix Böseler, Jörg Walter, Verena Klös; IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops (IPDPSW); 06 / 2025
Trust is Good, Monitoring is Better: FPGA-& TEE-Based Monitoring for Malware Detection
Friederike Bruns, Glaser Glaser, Florian Kogler, Jonas Lienke, Nithin Ravani Nanjundaswamy, Gregor Nitsche, Behnam R Perjikolaei, Jörg Walter; 13th IMA International Conference on Modelling in Industrial Maintenance and Reliability MIMAR; 2025
Validating the Design of CPS: Interfacing Simulations of Multi-Physics Components and Software with Contract-Based Monitoring
Friederike Bruns, Francesco Tosoni, Sven Mehlhop, Andreas Rauh, Sara Vinco, Jörg Walter, Frank Oppenheimer, Franco Fummi; 29th International Conference on Methods and Models in Automation and Robotics (MMAR); 08 / 2025
2024
A Rate-Parametric Dataflow Language for a Manual Controllable CGRA Compilation Flow
Böseler, Felix and Walter, Jörg; Methoden und Beschreibungssprachen zur Modellierung und Verifikation von Schaltungen und Systemen (MBMV) 2024; 02 / 2024
