Dependable software for industry and public administration
A high degree of innovation and increasingly complex software-based systems require that research institutes and industrial technology leaders work closely together to carry out research and knowledge transfer. This is a significant factor for Bavaria given the large number of high-tech companies that operate here. fortiss carries out application- and market-oriented research primarily in the automobile, industrial automation, aerospace and public administration sectors.
Today’s vehicle functions are increasingly software-based. Despite the growing complexity of these software systems, our goal is to create a foundation for achieving better traffic flows and improving traffic safety. How do we improve software development processes and make suitable development tools available? In this sector we develop software technologies based on dependable and robust artificial intelligence, such as for autonomous driving environments.
Small batch manufacturing is possible provided the production systems are flexible enough. Apart from developing software solutions for such systems, we focus on the programming of distributed control systems with a model-based approach. Other key activities include continuous production without system interruptions, intuitive robot programming and developing AI’s potential in industrial environments.
Highly-automated air taxis and autonomous drones are the dream of every commuter frustrated by daily traffic congestion. When it comes to creating aerospace applications however, software development, verification, validation and certification are the main risk factors and cost drivers. In order to validate and support the development and operation of these safety-critical systems, we work on the basis of model-based safety & security development and certification.
While public administration organizations may not always have the best reputation, the fact is, the variety of services that citizens and companies have access to cannot be found at any private company. In this sector, we focus our research activities on software methods and tools for analyzing and designing eGovernment processes, as well as processes between public administration and citizens or companies. Using block chain technology, we work on evidence-based transactions and intelligent contracts, conduct research into AI’s potential and look into issues related to software landscape management and IT services provisioning.
Software systems, and the applications that run on them, play a crucial role in intelligent energy networks. The growing complexity involved in coupling the various sector networks such as electricity, heat, mobility and water presents a major challenge for the software architectures and interfaces. Against this backdrop, we research analyses and methods in order to create software architectures for distributed infrastructures that must be scalable, stable and robust. To examine such complex systems, among other things we rely on simulation environments and develop tools, which we use to design various control and monitoring concepts in order to evaluate the optimization level of the systems and implement data-based connected services.
fortiss carries out research for a wide range of other industries and areas of society, including projects that involve the development of an independent expert network for agriculture and farming in the age of digitalization. One EU-wide team led by fortiss is developing software for the health care industry that links robotics simulation with the neurosciences. And for the tourism industry, we are designing a software-based cloud platform that allows various participants to share services, information and resources in a common fashion.