The DFG funded research unit OC-Trust deals with the trustworthiness of Organic Computing-systems.

Organic Computing systems differ from classical software systems as the topology of the system and the participating components of the system are not predefined and are subject to unforeseeable change during the system's runtime. Thus, completely new challenges to the verification and validation of such systems as well as for interactions between system components and, of course, the user interface arise. These challenges can be subsumed by the term trustworthiness or trust. Trust encompasses different aspects, as, for example, safety, reliability, credibility and usability, the investigation of which requires appropriate methods for each case.

Four teams from Augsburg and Hannover are currently involved in the research unit. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Reif (University of Augsburg) is the unit's spokesperson. The following teams act jointly in the research unit:

• Creation of self-organising Trust Communities (Prof. Dr. Christian Müller-Schloer, Prof. Dr. Jörg Hähner, Fachgebiet System- und Rechnerarchitektur, Universität Hannover)
• Formal Analysis and Software Architectures for Trustworthy Organic Computing (Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Reif, Lehrstuhl für Softwaretechnik und Programmiersprachen, Universität Augsburg, Koordinator)
• HCI Design for Trustworthy Organic Computing (Prof. Dr. Elisabeth André, Lehrstuhl für Multimedia-Konzepte und Anwendungen, Universität Augsburg)
• Trust Relations among autonomous Entities of Organic Computing Systems (Prof. Dr. Theo Ungerer, Lehrstuhl für Systemnahe Informatik und Kommunikationssysteme, Universität Augsburg)

The project's aim is to develop techniques that allow the consideration of trust during analysis, design and implementation of Organic Computing systems. Apart from the conscious generation of trustworthiness, evaluation and comparison of different facettes of trust or metrics thereof are a part of this endeavor.

Organic Computing systems are highly dynamic, composed of a vast number of changeable components and are located in an ever changing environment. These facts yield a number of highly desirable properties, e.g. the ability to self-heal, to self-adapt, or to self-configure. However, classical techniques for analysis and design of software systems are no longer suitable for systems of such complex structure. Novel aspects that could not be observed in other systems, such as emergent properties, and the extreme dynamics of OC-systems require a new way to think about such systems as well as the development of new mechanisms. These mechanisms include formal methods for functional correctness, safety and security as well as methods to describe and measure the trustworthy interaction of parts of the system, the observation of predefined policies at runtime, and the development of algorithms that take into account aspects of trust in self-organizing systems. In particular, the user interface can no longer be implemented in a conventional fashion. Questions dealing with the graphical representation of self-organising system structures, the adaptive representation of information on different kinds of displays, and finally the privacy of data have to be investigated.

During the first phase of the project that started at October 1st, 2009 fundamental techniques, metrics and methods for the investigation of trustworthiness in OC-systems are being developed. During the projected second phase, these techniques will be applied and evaluated in a demonstrator and refined based on the data gathered as well as applied to additional domains.

The working groups collaborate closely on the different problems outlined above and mutually exchange ideas, preliminary results, and plans at regular meetings.

Contacts

Project Coordinator:

Jan-Philipp Steghöfer
Lehrstuhl für Softwaretechnik und Programmiersprachen
Universität Augsburg
steghoefer@informatik.uni-augsburg.de
(0821) 598-2177

Spokesperson:

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Reif
Lehrstuhl für Softwaretechnik und Programmiersprachen
Universität Augsburg
reif@informatik.uni-augsburg.de
(0821) 598-2174