The review of the TEWI colloquia of Dr. Dimitrios Serpanos from March 9, 2017 comprises the video recording and slides.

Video:

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Slides:

Abstract and Bio:

Industrial control systems (ICS) control and manage a significant portion of critical infrastructure. As cyberattacks increasingly target critical infrastructure, ICS security and resilience are required to avoid catastrophic events that may lead even to loss of life. Importantly, ICS differ from traditional IT systems in several ways, from interacting with physical processes to requirements for continuous operation and real-time processing.

In this talk, we present a behavior-based approach to the design of secure and resilient industrial control systems. Starting with a programmable specification of a control process, we develop executable code with specified security properties. A run-time middleware, ARMET, monitors the execution of the program, identifying behavioral deviations due to intrusions or process failures and leading to diagnosis and system recovery. Importantly, our approach includes a novel method for vulnerability analysis of processes.

Dimitrios Serpanos is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras and Director of the Industrial Systems Institute in Greece. He has worked at IBM Research, on the faculties of the University of Crete and the University of Patras, as Principal Scientist at QCRI, as President of the University of Western Greece, and has served another term as Director of the Industrial Systems Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton University. His research is in embedded systems, industrial systems and security.
Professor Serpanos has co-authored several books and published research work extensively. His research has been funded by both the European Commission, the Greek Government and industry in the EU and the USA.

Montag, 10. April 2017, E.1.42

8:30 – 9:30, Christoph BENZMÜLLER

Title: Calculemus! Progress in Universal Logic Reasoning and Computational Metaphysics

Abstract: Inspired by Leibniz‘ famous vision „Calculemus! — Let us calculate“, an approach to universal logic reasoning is presented. The proposed solution is indirect: it utilises classical higher-order logic as a universal meta-logic in which various other (classical and non-classical) logics from today’s logic zoo can be shallowly embedded and combined; the embedded (object-)logics can then be employed for the representation of knowledge in different application domains.

This semantical embedding approach suppor ts the formalisation and deep logical assessment of rational arguments on the computer. In this sense, it partially realises Leibniz‘ dream. To illustrate this, I will present a rigorous analysis of modern variants of the “Ontological Argument for the Existence of God“, including Kurt Gödel’s seminal contribution. By utilising the approach, even relevant new insights about the ontological argument have recently been revealed by automated theorem provers. These research activities have inspired the conception of a new, awarded lecture course on “Computational Metaphysics“ at Freie Universität Berlin, which brings together students from computer science, mathematics and philosophy.

The approach, which fruitfully combines and exploits, amongst others, own research contributions from the last two decades, is by no means  restricted to metaphysics or philosophy; this is evidenced by recent applications e.g. in mathematics and artificial intelligence.

11:00 – 12:00, Wolfgang FABER

Titel: Deklarative Formalismen als Motoren Semantischer Systeme

Abstract: Semantik in Wissensbasierten System ist der Schlüssel, um über das vorhandene Wissen selbst Schlüsse zu ziehen. Semantik kommt besonderer Bedeutung zu, wenn nicht nur Antworten oder Lösungen gefunden werden sollen, sondern auch Begründungen oder Erklärungen selbiger. In diesem Vortrag soll die Rolle deklarativer Formalismen (im Sinne deklarativer Sprachen und Systeme) in solchen Semantischen Systemen herausgearbeitet werden. Besondere Berücksichtigung werden dabei logische Programmierung und Regelsysteme finden.

14:30 – 15:30, Martin GEBSER

Titel: Knowledge Representation and Reasoning in Practice

Abstract: Modern computing systems provide tremendous resources to automate sophisticated calculations, as required in various application areas, including life sciences, machine learning, planning and scheduling, product configuration, system synthesis and verification, etc. This goes along with an increasing demand for expressive, general-purpose means for knowledge representation and reasoning. In my talk, I outline how computational logic along with extensions can serve as a powerful paradigm for representing and solving demanding real-world applications by means of general, domain-independent search and optimization methods.

Dienstag, 11. April 2017, E.1.42

8:30 – 9:30, Jörg HOFFMANN

Titel: Automatic Planning: Some Recent Methods and Applications

Abstract: Automatic Planning is one of the founding areas of Artificial Intelligence, concerned with the automation of problem solving: the design of algorithms whose input is a declarative problem description („the rules of the game“) and that automatically find a solution („the game strategy“) to any such input. The curse of generality is complexity — even the simplest planning problems are PSPACE-complete to solve, in the size of the declarative description — so effective search methods are paramount. After a brief introduction to the area, the talk summarizes two such methods developed in recent work by the author, namely star-topology decomposition which breaks conditional dependencies among components in the input; and conflict-based learning which learns sound and generalizable knowledge from dead-end states encountered during forward state space search. We then highlight a recent application of planning techniques, to simulated network penetration testing in IT security. We conclude with an outlook on future challenges.

11:00 – 12:00, Stefan EDELKAMP

Title: Multi-Goal Motion Planning

Abstract: In the clothes of vehicle routing, multi-goal task planning has been an apparent optimization question for a fairly long time. We will present advances in high-speed solving these discrete planning problems. With fast single-source shortest path planning, the in- or outdoor map for the vehicle fleet is condensed to a graph of customer orders, which could be any combination of pickups and deliveries.  For one vehicle this setting corresponds to a variant of the NP-hard traveling salesman problem with capacities and time windows, while for several vehicles and according to the dynamics in the orders within a multi-agent simulation system, we support negotiating agents that offer multi-modal transport services.

While the discrete multi-goal task planning problem is already hard, the integration of task and motion planning is considered to be one of the most important challenges to nowadays robotics. Robots have sizes, heading, and velocity, and their motion can often be described only according to non-linear differential equations. The dynamics of movements, existing obstacles and many waypoints to visit are only some of the challenges to face. In real-world problems, we often have additional constraints like inspecting areas of interest in some certain order, while still minimizing the time for the travel. The trickiest part is to solve the hard combinatorial discrete tasks like the generalized and clustered traveling salesman problems, and -at the same time- providing valid trajectories for the robot. We use a framework in which a motion tree is steadily grown, and abstractions to discrete planning problems are used as a heuristic guidance for the on-going solution process to eventually visit all waypoints. In case of inspection, we generate the waypoints fully automatically, using a combination of 2D and 3D skeletonization together with a filtering mechanism based on hitting sets.

Dr. Dimitrios Serpanos | March 9, 2017 | 12:30 | E.2.37

Abstract

Industrial control systems (ICS) control and manage a significant portion of critical infrastructure. As cyberattacks increasingly target critical infrastructure, ICS security and resilience are required to avoid catastrophic events that may lead even to loss of life. Importantly, ICS differ from traditional IT systems in several ways, from interacting with physical processes to requirements for continuous operation and real-time processing.

In this talk, we present a behavior-based approach to the design of secure and resilient industrial control systems. Starting with a programmable specification of a control process, we develop executable code with specified security properties. A run-time middleware, ARMET, monitors the execution of the program, identifying behavioral deviations due to intrusions or process failures and leading to diagnosis and system recovery. Importantly, our approach includes a novel method for vulnerability analysis of processes.

Dimitrios Serpanos is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras and Director of the Industrial Systems Institute in Greece. He has worked at IBM Research, on the faculties of the University of Crete and the University of Patras, as Principal Scientist at QCRI, as President of the University of Western Greece, and has served another term as Director of the Industrial Systems Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton University. His research is in embedded systems, industrial systems and security.
Professor Serpanos has co-authored several books and published research work extensively. His research has been funded by both the European Commission, the Greek Government and industry in the EU and the USA.

Monday, February 20, 2017, E.1.05

8.30am, Dr. Andreas Mauthe, Lancaster University, School of Computing and Communications

Title: Resilience in Dynamic, Opportunistic Systems-of-Systems

Abstract: Distributed computing environments nowadays are becoming increasingly diverse and differentiated in nature. They are moving from traditional distributed systems comprising PCs/mobiles + IP networks to ecosystems that include Internet of Things (IoT) installations (e. g. smart cities and buildings), environmental sensor and actuator networks (e. g. WSNs) using non-IP protocols, cluster-based cloud systems, ad-hoc networks such as MANETs and VANETs, and virtualised systems supported by network overlays (e. g. Clouds). In order to exploit the full potential of these various „systems“ they need to be dynamically interconnected, so they can interact with, and respond to each other. For example, VANETs talk to smart cities, WSNs process data in back-end clouds, and overlay-based systems adjust their resilience properties when their underlying IP environment changes. It is becoming recognised in many research communities that this can be best achieved through a „systems-of-systems“ approach. However, this also requires a new approach towards system resilience and security considering the autonomic characteristics and dynamic nature of systems-to-systems approach. We have developed a programming approach called tecton, which is a distributed representation of a potentially-opportunistically-interacting distributed system. It provides support for opportunistic, rule-based interaction with low overhead.

In this presentation I will introduce the tecton abstraction, and in particular discuss how resilience can be ensured within a dynamic systems-of-systems ecosystem. The resilience mechanisms are based on D²R²+DR framework originally conceived within an autonomic networking concept. Resilience is provided through structural means but also active components call Resilience Managers. Through these, independent systems can interact while ensuring that security and resilience are maintained. A central component of this framework is anomaly detection that operates in conjunction with remediation to provide operational resilience considering the environmental dynamics as well as novel threats.

The talk will also provide and outlook on further research challenges in the context of critical systems infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber Physical Systems. Further, it will outline how the research relates to teaching and collaborative research opportunities within AAU.

10:45am, Dr. Stefan Schulte, TU Wien, Fakultät für Informatik

Title: Elastic Computing

Abstract: Especially in volatile IT environments, there is a constant necessity to adapt computational resources to fulfil the resource and quality demands of service users. Permanently providing resources which are able to handle peak loads is not the best solution for this, as these capacities will not be fully utilized most of the time, leading to unnecessary cost. However, permanent underprovisioning of computational resources is obviously also not an option.

Within this talk, elastic computing will be discussed as a solution to satisfy volatile demands for computational resources. A special focus will be on elastic processes and elastic stream processing. Also, a brief outlook on how Internet of Things devices could be used to provide computational resources for services will be given.

2:00pm, Dr. Vlado Handziski, TU Berlin / TU Dresden

Title: The Ever-changing Landscape of Distributed Systems

Abstract: During the last two decades the distributed systems research had to constantly adapt to a rapidly changing technological landscape bringing novel challenges and questioning long-held assumptions. The talk will provide a brief overview of this evolution, focusing on several important paradigm shifts like the emergence of resource-constrained wireless devices with rich sensing and actuation capabilities, the rise of the smartphone platform, the cloud-centric architecture and big-data processing frameworks, the microservices model and the renewed interest in data-centric middleware. I will elaborate on the major milestones as part of this evolution and highlight some of my own contributions to the field. In the final part of the talk I will concentrate on the future of distributed systems and explore some novel challenges from new application fields (e.g. cyber-physical systems), new technologies (e.g. blockchains) and new algorithms (e.g. deep learning).

4:15pm, Dr. Thomas Zinner, Universität Würzburg, Institute für Informatik

Title: SDN, NFV & DASH: Leistungsbewertung neuer Mechanismen zur Netz- und Anwendungs­steuerung

Abstract: Das heutige Internet hat sich über Jahrzehnte zu einer globalen, universalen Kommunikations- und Diensteplattform entwickelt. Der Erfolg des Internets wird vor allem vorangetrieben durch das vielfältige Angebot an Anwendungen, einhergehend mit der steigenden Verbreitung durch immer schnelleren Breitband-Internetzugang.  Leider kommt es aufgrund der starren Architektur, fehlender Flexibilität, und mangelnder Ressourcensteuerung immer wieder zu Beeinträchtigung der Dienstqualität und damit der vom Nutzer wahrgenommenen Dienstgüte. Neue Technologien und Konzepte wie Cloud Computing, Software Defined Networking oder die Virtualisierung von Netzfunktionen ermöglichen eine Flexibilisierung der Kommunikationsarchitektur und damit die Überwindung dieser Nachteile.

Der Vortrag befasst sich mit Leistungsuntersuchungen neuartiger Mechanismen zur Netz- und Anwendungssteuerung, die sich durch diese Technologien ergeben.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017, E.1.05

8:30am, Dr. Radu Prodan, Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Informatik

Title: Multi-objective Modelling and Optimization of Scientific and Industrial Applications on Distributed Computing Infrastructures

Abstract: The presentation is structured in four parts. It starts with an overview of the current research conducted by the applicant at the University of Innsbruck in the field of distributed and parallel systems. The second part introduces the ASKALON environment, the main research product of the applicant, designed to simplify and support the development cycle of scientific applications on distributed computing infrastructures. Afterwards, it presents a selection of the latest research methods and results obtained in two important areas: modelling, prediction and simulation of energy consumption and multi-objective optimisation and scheduling of scientific applications on distributed computed infrastructures with respect to time, cost, energy, robustness and storage as simultaneous conflicting objectives. The third part of the talk presents the research conducted by the applicant in the area of industrial applications, with focus on massively multiplayer online gaming on distributed computing resources. The talk concludes with an outlook into the future research plans.

10:45am, Dr. Karin Anna Hummel, Universität Linz, Department of Telecooperation

Title: The Interplay of Physical Mobility and Wireless Networked Systems

Abstract: Physical device mobility challenges networked systems as it causes degraded quality of wireless communication links, disconnections, and mobility management overhead, e.g. in the cellular network. The effects of physical mobility are on the one hand observable in the network, on the other hand, mobility context can be exploited to improve networking. In this talk, I explain the relation between physical mobility and networked systems and present two lines of my recent research. In the first part, I focus on the question whether the cellular network can be used as a reliable ubiquitous sensor of physical mobility. As the observation of signaling caused by mobile devices comes with considerable spatial uncertainties, characterizing mobility is challenging. I present a robust method that allows to counteract these uncertainties for vehicular traffic estimation. The outcomes of a one-month study based on real cellular data on a European highway reveal that our method can detect road congestion episodes reliably, and even faster than methods based on traditional road observation technologies. In the second part, I discuss how delay-tolerant networks can take smarter packet forwarding decisions about when, where, and to whom to transmit by being aware of the devices’ mobility context. In this frame, I detail results of several experimental studies with our fleet of micro aerial vehicles and demonstrate that leveraging mobility information and moreover anticipating mobility characteristics improves single link transmissions and data forwarding performance over multiple links.