Current Research

Design and development methods for embedded system safety and security

Conventional embedded systems have been used as control computers to control automobiles or consumer electronics. But recently, they become computing platforms to support valuable functions for products, or computing nodes that form a large distributed system in conjunction with each other. This means embedded systems have a key role in the infrastructure of our society. During designing, development and operation of embedded systems, it is required not only to achieve required functions but also to mitigate risks related to safety and security of the systems. Safety and security are properties at the system level, not at the component such as hardware and software level. Therefore, a wide perspective on the entire system design, development, and operation is important.

We have studied elemental technologies for the design of embedded systems such as embedded real-time OS, real-time scheduling and protection functions, real-time analysis, communication protocol, and simulation. Recently methods for system safety and security based on such elemental technologies are also researched.

Our research interests include, but are not limited to, the following:
For elemental technologies
- Software platforms for automotive control systems
- Worst-case response time analysis of real-time Ethernet for automotive networks
- Protocol stack for automotive networks
- Performance evaluation of middleware for robot control systems
For system safety and security
- Safety/security analysis technique
- Risk assessment methods for automotive control system

We work in various fields involving airplanes and automobiles, aerospace in cooperation with industrial companies, and sometimes pursue activities together for certification of international standards. Details of our research can be found on the URL http://ertl.jp/~yutaka/index-e.html. We always welcome people with interests in our research.