Topics 2002
1 - Agent Oriented Software Engineering
Contact person Fausto Giunchiglia
The long term goal is to develop a novel methodology for the development of new generation very complex software systems (with a specific emphasis on information systems). In comparison to the existing approaches (e.g., UML), this methodology starts from the much earlier phase of the early requirements specification where the environment is modeled, before and after the operational activation of the system to be. A main objective of this methodology is the development of a new CASE tool. The work of the person will concentrate on some (practical and theoretical) aspects of the development of the tool.
2 - A framework for the specification, integration and coordination of e-services
Contact person Mike Papazoglou, Marco Aiello
A framework for the specification, integration and coordination of e-services. The specific topic of the project will be defined when the person arrives in Trento.
3 - Undefined IndiceParagrafo precedenteParagrafo successivo
Contact person Marco Ronchetti, John Mylopolous
Within the framework of a research project aiming at investigating novel approaches for enhancing e-learning by using knowledge management techniques, we propose a few small projects. Some possible instances are:
- Building a semantic networks visualizer.
- Building a tool for annotating lectures on the Web.
The specific project will be chosen when the student arrives in Trento (non necessarily only between the two examples indicated above). Due to time constraints, a strong prerequisite is a reasonably good knowledge of the Java language (including JSP and Servlets, or Swing).
4 - Undefined
Contact person Alessandro Zorat
The technological advances in microelectronic has brought the ongoing "electronic revolution" to the point where functional blocks that were distributed on many chips a few years ago can now fabricated on a single chip, the so called "system on a chip" or SOC. The research carried out in Trento centers on (embedded) systems that comprise environment sensors and data processing. In particular, image sensors, standard RISC processors and neural processors have been investigated to obtain a stand-alone system for specialized tasks, such as surveillance, object recognition, and quality control. The availability of state-of-the-art software tools, coupled with the possibility of using high-level hardware description languages such as VHDL, provides a rich environment in which "intellectual property" blocks can be designed and tested, initially in a software simulation environment, later on by "compiling" them for a hardware implementation on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), before committing the final design to a silicon implementation on a chip. The research is aimed mainly at the design of such blocks for final fabrication in a standard CMOS technology. The efforts range from the early theoretical development of novel circuits for sensor, amplifiers, A/D converters, to system issues such as reliability and performance, while maintaining a strong focus on the applications deriving from this research.
5 - Undefined
Contact person Giovanni Soncini
Several research activities in electronics are available in the following area:
- design and development of microprocessor controlled PCB mounted electronics for sensing devices;
- development of silicon based MOEMS (MicroOptoElectroMechanical Systems) of interest for Optoelectronics and Optical communications;
- development of electronic PCB based on programmable logic devices, for machine learning and neural networks (theory, algorithms and implementations), with particular attention to the implementation of intelligent systems for: identification and control of non-linear systems, pattern recognition, time series forecasting, images and signals processing.
6 - Undefined
Contact person Paolo Traverso
Formal Methods for Agent Oriented Software Engineering. The objective is the development of formal analysis techniques (model checking, satisfiability checking, automated synthesis) that support the goal-oriented and agent oriented development of software, from early requirements to specification, design and implementation. Model Checking and Synthesis of Concurrent and Distributed Systems. The aim is the development of techniques based on model checking for the automated synthesis from and the validation of qualitative properties (e.g. safety and security) and quantitative properties (e.g., performance evaluation) of embedded, concurrent, and distributed systems.
7 - Undefined
Contact person Corrado Priami
The project DEGAS addresses foundational aspects for the design of global applications by enhancing the state of the art in scientific as well as engineering principles. The main concerns are the specification in UML and the qualitative and quantitative analysis of global applications. We plan to define the key features of global (wireless) applications that should be exposed at an abstract level of specification and analysis. We provide formal relations between the (possibly richer or incomplete) UML models and the process calculi specifications to connect the specification and the verification environment by hiding as much formal details from the designer as possible. The static and dynamic analysis with case-studies should bring to the definition of new linguistic constructs and new models to analyze and reason about performance and security of global systems.
The project FABS aims at importing computer science formal techniques into the realm of biochemistry. The techniques adopted covers analytical analysis as well as simulation of molecular networks relying of concurrency theory development. The neat result is a prototype environment to assist biochemistry researchers in the design, planning and analysis of complex experiments involving both qualitative and quantitative aspects. The first part of the project is devoted to the design and validation with biological experiments of the environment, while the last part of the project aims at predicting molecular behavior through simulations. The interdisciplinary of the research imposes the design of a common language between computer scientists and biologists that we plan to materialize in a graphical interface of the environment
8 - Undefined
Contact person Roberto Battiti, Imrich Chlamtac
The research topics of the computer networks and algorithms group include algorithms, system architecture, and applications, in the following areas: OPTICAL NETWORKS, MOBILE AND WIRELESS NETWORKS, INTERNET, Network Management and Control, Quality of Service. Specific topics can be in the area of sentient computing and location-aware computing and can be discussed with the contact persons.
More details about research activities can be found in: http://rtm.science.unitn.it/~battiti/archive/computer-networks.docDOC
9 - Conceptual modelling using linguistic tools
Contact person Luisa Mich, John Mylopolous
An important research area for the application of linguistic instruments to support requirements analysis and, in particular, conceptual modelling is pattern extraction based on not very sophisticated tools. The cooperation with the University of Toronto will allow to experiment a tool for parsing legacy systems. The objective is to apply template filling techniques in order to support the modelling of business goals following the i* methods.
Foregoing project: http://nl-oops.cs.unitn.it
10 - Computer Security Design and Verification
Contact person Fabio Massacci, Corrado Priami
Formal methods for the design and verification of Computer and Network Security. The objective is the development of formal analysis techniques for the automated synthesis and the validation of qualitative properties (e.g. authentication, confidentiality, non-repudiation) and quantitative properties (e.g., performance vs security trade-off evaluation) of the security of embedded, concurrent, and distributed systems. Indicative topics are secure electronic transactions of Visa and MasterCard, security of Wireless Application Protocol, requirement engineering with UML security, security services in CORBA, etc.