Cooperation between IT research and industry in Saarland is wide-ranging. Leading IT companies like IBM, Siemens and Infineon as well as the German car industry and the European aerospace industry work together on joint research projects. Over the last ten years, Saarbruecken has witnessed the emergence of influential companies such as IDS Scheer and SAP Retail Solutions and more than 70 spin-off firms. The Saarland IT industry has a high innovation potential and is growing at rates above the national average. Some of our larger projects are mentioned in the following:

Real-time ray tracing

Real-time ray tracing is a new, high-performance hardware and software architecture that is displacing conventional visualization techniques used in industrial development. The interactive graphics technology allows 3D objects to be displayed, moved and modified. Even light properties like shadows, refractions and reflections can be realistically simulated. To display original CAD models such as an entire Boeing 777, data from as many as 350 million polygons must be processed interactively. This equates to more than 30 gigabytes of data or 40 CD-ROMs. Real-time ray tracing can be employed in automobile manufacturing, aircraft construction and other industrial applications for the early detection and resolution of design problems.

Partners: VW, BMW, Daimler-Chrysler, Intel
Contact: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Philipp Slusallek
slusallek@cs.uni-sb.de
Tel. + 49 681 302-3830

Verisoft: Formal Verification of Computer Systems

Verisoft is an applied research project aimed at developing methods to facilitate the formal verification of computer systems and their mathematical accuracy. The goal is to ensure that computer systems embedded in products such as automobiles and aircraft are 100% error free. The new technology is being utilized at the processor level and will now be expanded for use with entire systems.

Partners: BMW, Infineon, T-Systems, AbsInt GmbH
Contact: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Wolfgang J. Paul
wjp@cs.uni-sb.de
Tel. +49 0681 302-2436

AVACS: Automatic Verification und Analysis of Complex Systems

The failure of safety-critical systems in aircraft, trains or automobiles can cost human lives, which makes it all the more important that they are thoroughly tested. To date, verifying the accuracy of these systems has been limited to specific aspects such as stability or continuity. Under the scope of the AVACS project, a Transregional Collaborative Research Center of the German Research Council (DFG), researchers are developing processes to enable the comprehensive and holistic testing of complex systems such as braking assistance and automatic distance control while also providing the capability to predict their reliability.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Reinhard Wilhelm
wilhelm@cs.uni-sb.de
Tel. +49 681 302-3434

Advanced Real-Time Systems (European Network of Excellence ARTIST2)

The strategic goal of the European network of excellence ARTIST2 is to strengthen European research in the area of embedded systems and to improve this multidisciplinary subject. ARTIST2 combines the most renowned European research groups from the various disciplines (electronics, cybernetics, applied mathematics and computer science)

Saarland Computer Science participates by working on time analysis of real time systems.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Reinhard Wilhelm
wilhelm@cs.uni-sb.de
Tel. +49 0681 302-3434