tag:www.inf.uni-hamburg.de,2005:/en/inst/ab/dos/newslistNews2024-03-18T15:57:41ZNAGR-fakmin-37386780-production2024-03-14T23:00:00ZPerCom 2024 in Biarritz: of Computation Offloading and Learning from Failures<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/37387070/pxl-20240314-175051028-41f53262104c03bb738517d31cd6a3ea38cd7a23.jpg" /><p>We are back home after an exciting week at the PerCom 2024 conference in Biarritz. It was Anton's first participation in an academic conference and he got to present his paper "Wasimoff: Distributed Computation Offloading Using WebAssembly in the Browser" at the third edition of the STARLESS workshop collocated with the conference. Janick also presented a paper "Emotion Prediction Through Eye Tracking in Affective Computing Systems" in the EmotionAware workshop and held a keynote on "Why Tasklets have not taken over the world (yet)" at the PerFail workshop, which was an interesting collection of cautionary tales and motivational learnings. We've made a lot of new friends and seen some familiar faces from previous visits at our working group.</p>
<p>The program in the main track was as diverse as the area of pervasive computing is broad: from optimizations and deployments of tiny machine-learning models on edge devices and microcontrollers, to new approaches and sensor technologies in human activity recognition, and better predictive models for landslides in Japan – there were many inspiring presentations and new ideas.</p>
<p>When we weren't busy listening to the presentations in the main track, we could spend time exploring the beautiful city and taking lots of pictures. We'll never get tired of watching the atlantic ocean's waves hitting the rocky coastline. And after watching surfers from afar all week, some of us even got to swim ourselves on friday.</p><p>Photo: Anton Semjonov</p>NAGR-fakmin-37242754-production2024-03-07T23:00:00ZEnd of the master project 23/24<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/37363404/startbild-733x414-64cb18fcb0a3559fb8ba491e37a9e8ec20a29c96.png" /><p>This week marks the end of a one-year journey: the last presentations of our course "DeepMining & Smart Ports" have been held. Let's recapitulate this exciting voyage.</p>
<p>Together with the master’s thesis, the master project is a large and essential part of the informatics curriculum at the UHH. Here, students have the chance to participate in cutting-edge research while making lots of practical experiences. Work takes place in teams of 4–6 people in an agile manner based on weekly meetings, discussions and a seminar with presentations. This year we lead three teams, with three topics, two of which part of our current research project: InteGreatDrones.</p>
Smart Ports: Image processing models
<p></p>
<p>With InteGreatDrones we are researching how we can leverage "UAVs" (drones) swarm to optimize processes in inland ports. One goal is to utilize an autonomous drone fleet to capture image data of the port, allowing us to build a digital twin. The first group of the master project was tasked with creating a solution that finds objects such as containers, trucks or the reach stacker in the drones video feed and pinpoints their position. Also, optical character recognition was deployed to read the text on containers, enabling us to track the location of every container inside the port.</p>
Smart Ports: Digital Twin
<p></p>
<p>Our second group developed our digital twin as a web app, using mapbox and other javascript frameworks. Via an API we can take the data produced by the first group and visualize it inside a browser. Containers can be searched and information about them can be displayed in real time. Now it is impossible to lose another container and route planning becomes easy for the ground personnel.</p>
DeepMining
<p></p>
<p>The last group of our project took us into an entirely different direction: down, deep under the earth, into the world of mines. Sensors in mines produce lots of data. However, acquiring that data is a big issue: mines are very hazardous environments. Wired communication is prone to damage, expensive and needs constant maintenance due to the ever-changing and extending nature of mines. On the other hand, wireless communication becomes unreliable and short-ranged underground. The third group investigated delay-tolerant networks (DTNs), loosely connected networks that are resilient against errors, built and tested a framework that allows them to deploy such networks in mines and developed their own DTN protocol.</p><p>Photo: Janick Edinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-37386768-production2024-03-06T23:00:00ZVisit from Tsukuba: Prof. Daisuke Kodaira<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/37387546/dsc-1257-6550b4b5497d87e2b032d265da149bae586de083.jpg" /><p>A year after his previous visit, Prof. Daisuke Kodaira came to visit our working group once again to present his recent research on distributed controlling of smart batteries. In return, Frank and Janis presented the ideas and technologies behind the Follow-the-Sun-Computing (FTSC) project and we all discussed how our smart cities might look like in the future and what challenges still lie ahead. After lunch, we went up on the roof to take a look inside the autonomous computing node, which has been running all winter on solar power alone.</p><p>Photo: Janick Edinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-37189118-production2024-02-29T23:00:00ZVisiting our Real World Twin in Dresden<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/37189146/news-dresden-733x414-14e68cde03da08b760ab1241b7033e6eda05b446.png" /><p>This 2-day trip paved the way to new progress in transforming the Alberhafen of Dresden into a more efficient and sutainable one.</p>
<p>Alberthafen is the most busy and dynamic terminal in Dresden. That's why we chose it to be one of the two ports whose processes we want to optimize with the help of drones and Digital Twins for our project InteGreat Drones and to be our real world counterpart to the Digital Twin we want to create for simulation purposes in the context of this project.</p>
<p>Key to leading our endeavors to success is having enough information, i.e. data, about the actual port. This not only concerns collecting data in the real world but also later on in the digital world to save time and resources which is why the Digital Twin comes in handy.</p>
<p>So we made our way further to the actual port in order to increase our understanding of what's happening in reality. After an insightful overview during a guided tour through the port, we were allowed to observe the busy bustling of the trucks and gigantic reachstackers on- and offloading containers during night. For the first time we made drone recordings at this late hour. This is especially important if we want to understand how it's like when visibilty conditions make it harder to recognize license plates and container IDs. Moreover, we got first sensor data from a Reachstacker by attaching a camera to it.</p>
<p>However, our trip was not only about observing, taking new footage and gathering information. We also made use of the excellent opportunity for our team to all meet in person, discussing data flows, evaluating our achievements so far as well as setting new goals for the further course of our project.</p>
<p>All in all, this little journey was a great experience, because we were successfully gaining various new insights, planning and making our way further along the port's territory for InteGreatDrones in a productive but also sociably nice way with all team members being together in one place for these two days.</p><p>Photo: Edinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-37242361-production2024-02-22T23:00:00ZThe base.camp at the nextMedia AI Festival<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/37214822/header-912a6620c4afbe193e0b2510b80b44713b3fc5d3.png" /><p>Today we are ending an exciting week that was all about AI. The base.camp was part of the nextMedia AI Festival in Hamburg, from the 19th to the 23rd of February at the SPACE Hamburg.</p>
<p>The event was all about how AI will form the Media and Content Industry. For an entire week leading experts gave several talks. We visited interesting workshops on AI and Copyright by fieldfisher, taking away several points to use in our future AI endeavors. A week prior Sora, OpenAI’s new text to video model had made high waves. Simon Graff showed us that AI was soon to conquer another field: 3D-Models. Ninu Dramis gave us new perspectives on prompting, explaining the optimal way to prompt. On Thursday we all had a great laugh at the Prompt Battle: participants had to create images with their AI-Tools which were voted on by the viewers. See an archived schedule here.</p>
<p>Throughout the action-packed week there were also calmer moments like the mornings when we had our time to shine: arriving guests could eat and drink something or entertain themselves with the many interesting AI generated Artifacts in the SPACE: Light Novels generated with AI, which resulted in visually stunning adaptions of stories like "Little Red Riding Hood" or "The Sorcerer of Oz". We were also able to feel like that sorcerer when we painted on a virtual canvas, using AI generated paint brushes, like ones made from thunder or, when we tested the limits of the AI, copyrighted video game characters. The Canvas was powered by Google’s mediapipe and StreamDiffusion for the brushes. Of course we also brought our own artifacts: The Diffusionbooth and the trAIding-cards had proved themselves at the Digital Science Night #5 and have been developed further since then and were a great success.</p>
<p>All in all, we had a great week, learned a lot and met interesting people, like ARIC, the Artificial Intelligence Center Hamburg, who connect industry, society and AI researchers. Just as important: we now understand what a great place the SPACE Hamburg is and we hope to take one of our base.camp projects there.</p>
<p></p><p>Photo: nextmedia.Hamburg / Jan-Marius Komorek</p>NAGR-fakmin-36491199-production2023-12-09T09:00:00ZOur Journey in Digital Social Innovation<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/36491234/bapraktikum-733x414-143c7a29a2e3c602c2e3b09d6add0c294c7038ce.png" /><p>The grand finale of our seminar last weekend marked the peak of an intensive four-week-long period. Engaging with 42 students from diverse disciplines, we delved deep into context-sensitive systems and digital social innovations. This year, our bachelor practical was centered around the theme of digital transformation for sustainable development. Our collective focus was on designing mobile applications that support social and ecological objectives. From digital assistant systems to apps aimed at improving urban waste disposal, each project was driven by the ambition to advance one or more of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.</p>
<p>The seminar was not just a learning experience but a journey into the possibilities of digital technology in shaping a better world. It's heartening to see the enthusiasm and innovative spirit of our students, who have taken significant steps in developing and implementing ideas for a more sustainable society and city.</p><p>Photo: Janick Edinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-36579082-production2023-12-07T18:00:00ZDigital Science Night #5 Review<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/36530564/7m304298-header-50e7baee093a6fad80565ad3148259af72fa4938.jpg" />A particularly digital evening on digitalization with a science slam by Hamburg computer science experts and DJs for the night; took place on December 7, 2023 at the Fundbureau.<p>Photo: Viktor Gottselig</p>NAGR-fakmin-36383937-production2023-11-22T18:00:00ZDigital Science Night #5 – Generation AI: I am just a language model!<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/36285888/dsn23-header-08a75940ad6f9264e07c0135b1baa53258321776.jpg" />A particularly digital evening on digitalization with a science slam by Hamburg computer science experts and DJs for the night; on December 7, 2023, starting at 7 PM at Fundbureau.<p>Photo: Martin Kohler, CSTI, HAW</p>NAGR-fakmin-36204029-production2023-11-07T23:00:00ZHave you met ... Prof. Jiannong Cao?<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/36204059/prof-cao-733x414-03dceebe517304f8d2012dfb8e75d5b28c48d455.jpg" /><p>We are delighted to share that Prof. Jiannong Cao from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has been spending time with us as our esteemed guest. Prof. Cao is a distinguished researcher at PolyU, serving as a Professor for Data Science and Distributed and Mobile Computing, the Dean of the Graduate School, the Director of the Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things (RIAIoT), and the head of the Internet and Mobile Computing Lab (IMCL). His notable contributions to distributed systems, blockchain, wireless sensing and networking, and cloud and edge computing have earned him recognition and numerous publications. We had the privilege of engaging in insightful discussions with Prof. Cao, exploring research topics and exchanging ideas on the combination of Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things (AIoT) as well as Pervasive Intelligence.</p>
<p>These conversations have sparked inspiration, paving the way for potential future collaborations. We're looking forward to working together on projects and maintaining an active exchange of ideas with Prof. Cao and his team at PolyU.</p><p>Photo: Janick Edinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-35942158-production2023-10-16T22:00:00ZMastering Distributed Systems and Middleware<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/35942252/dmsstart23-6554bc290d3e44b42740435633b11ffab0c42c94.png" /><p>DOS just launched a new master course called "Distributed Systems and Middleware". Its primary objective is to investigate the challenges posed by distributed systems and demonstrate the necessity of middleware in addressing these challenges. Students will embark on a fascinating journey to explore the intricacies of designing and implementing distributed systems.</p>
<p>In the exercise component of the course, students will be divided into pairs and tasked with creating a distributed file sharing service. To add a real-world touch to the exercise, each student group will deploy their implementations on Raspberry Pi devices, which will represent the distributed nodes within the network. This hands-on experience will provide students with a practical understanding of the complexities and requirements of managing distributed systems.</p>
<p>The "Distributed Systems and Middleware" course promises to equip students with valuable insights into the world of distributed computing and the essential role of middleware solutions in simplifying these intricate systems. It is a significant step towards preparing the next generation of engineers and computer scientists for the challenges of a distributed world.</p><p>Photo: Janick Edinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-35857128-production2023-10-09T22:00:00ZDigital Total<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/35857427/digitaltotal2023-7e07d7c66ec148772395a2eaa797694375937908.jpg" /><p>At the Digital Total event organized by the Unversity of Hamburg, we presented our poster of the InteGreatDrones project during the poster sessions. The goal of the event was to present advances in Data Science, AI and Computing by research groups located in Hamburg.</p>
<p>In between the poster sessions, we got to listen to talks on various applications for digital processing ranging from natural sciences to studies in humanities. We were happy to participate in the two-day excursion to other research fields and enjoyed the interdisciplinary exchange during the poster sessions.</p><p>Photo: Janick Edinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-35811913-production2023-10-05T22:00:00ZTalk at SimTech in Stuttgart<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/35811949/simtech-733x414-c5a5875b9cc2e35a5548c4120caa0d93c2c1a4a1.png" /><p>When resource-restricted mobile devices run computationally intensive AR applications, task offloading can help to reduce the burden for the local device. As these applications require a continuous stream of images, no time can be wasted. Thus, selecting the optimal offloading target is vital for pervasive applications. How this selection can be performed in decentralized environments was the focus of Janick's talk title "Scheduling Pervasive Simulations in Heterogeneous Edge Computing" at the 3rd International Conference on Data-Integrated Simulation Science (SimTech) in Stuttgart.</p>
<p>Abstract:<br>Edge resources can provide a cost-effective and confidential alternative to cloud computing when resource-constrained devices require high computing power. For time-critical applications such as pervasive simulations, they also have the advantage of geographical proximity resulting in reduced latency. The management of edge resources in a decentralized manner, however, makes it challenging to obtain a global view in real-time, which in turn leads to scheduling decisions being made based on incomplete information. This results in suboptimal load balancing and, in the worst case, to deadlines not being met. In this talk, I will discuss different approaches to scheduling time-critical tasks in heterogeneous systems with an emphasis on probabilistic scheduling in decentralized environments to better achieve deadlines. Furthermore, in the talk I will highlight the unique of edge resources, especially end-user devices, and show how they can be used in highly time-critical application contexts.</p><p>Photo: Janick Edinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-35791723-production2023-10-04T22:00:00ZFirst big step for the FTSC project<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/35791806/followthesun2023-733x414-060e92fe075840db98aa7f89ce962a0d23d53b74.jpg" /><p>The initial solar panels for the FSTC project have been successfully commissioned. Within this exciting project, we aim to evaluate the possibilities of sharing computing operations in a server farm cluster among a group of autonomous solar power plants.</p>
<p>With the smooth deployment of our first prototype, we can now happily initiate measurements and start generating computing power from environmentally friendly green electricity.</p><p>Photo: Janick Edinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-35784928-production2023-09-28T22:00:00ZWinner of MOBS competition travels to Bamberg<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/35785054/bamberg2023-da3d733ad08d3e41e835a78cea112071450718aa.png" /><p>As the winner of the Homework competition in the Lecture "Modern Operating Systems" (MOBS), Maximilian Hartz was awarded a trip to the autumn meeting of the "Operating Systems SIG" (Fachgruppe Betriebssysteme) in Bamberg.<br>At the meeting, 18 talks were given. For instance about Just-In-Time compiling in Operating Systems, "Software-Defined CPU Modes" and Artifact Evaluation. Furthermore, two Winners of "Best Thesis" were awarded, one regarding Resource Consumption in Embedded Systems and the other about an easily reconfigurable embedded Operating System. Max also got to meet Researchers from all around Germany and Austria.</p><p>Photo: Reinhard Kirchner (CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed)</p>NAGR-fakmin-35734450-production2023-09-28T22:00:00ZWolf leaves Universität Hamburg<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/35734479/wolf2023-16c5ef4883dc35b63ca7f1233e23f4794b2340a0.jpg" /><p>After more than eight years, Wolf Posdorfer leaves the Universität Hamburg. After his studies, Wolf did his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Winfried Lamersdorf in the VSYS group on the topic of "Software-supported decentralization of business processes in B2B applications using blockchain technology". Subsequently, Wolf worked in the group of Prof. Dr. Mathias Fischer, leading in particular the creative lab base.camp. In the process, he organized innovative events such as the Digital Innovation Night and the Digital Science Night, in addition to transfer formats for school students such as Girls' Day and trial studies. In teaching, Wolf emphasized that students could work practically and experimentally, such as in hands-on courses on blockchains, sensor-based systems and the popular hackathon. Wolf, we thank you for your support and the happy times we spent together. All the best for your future!</p><p>Photo: Janick Edinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-35839489-production2023-09-14T22:00:00ZIDC'23: Increasing privacy through decentralized pre-processing<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/35839720/idc23-2bb0ba978486d365676efadb59a4445c0e0244fc.png" /><p>The "International Symposium on Intelligent Distributed Computing" recently was held at the HAW in Hamburg with discussions on cutting-edge distributed computing, data spaces, and Smart City concepts. We presented our work with the title "Privacy-Preserving Edge Processing in Decentralized Citizen-centric Sensor Networks", which allows citizens to control with whom they share which part of their own collected data streams.</p>
<p>The symposium, created a great space for PhD students and seasoned researchers to mingle, exchange ideas, and discuss solutions for the evolving world of distributed computing. The paper's full details will soon be available in the conference proceedings.</p><p>Photo: IDC23</p>NAGR-fakmin-35445457-production2023-08-22T22:00:00ZVisit to Riesa<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/35445701/visitriesa2023-e07f949f6e2bce4c1cdf8c155b863e3196c01b74.png" /><p>As part of the InteGreatDrones project, we visited the inland terminal in Riesa and deployed multiple DJI drones to survey the landscape. This pioneering initiative employs unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as 'drones,' to meticulously map container placements and terminal layouts, crucial for optimizing transloading operations.</p>
<p>This collaborative initiative brought together various stakeholders to discuss practical aspects like sensor technology, upcoming project phases, and the challenges ahead. This reflects the project's dedication to using advanced technology and teamwork to improve logistics at inland terminals.</p><p>Photo: Janick Edinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-35521996-production2023-07-23T22:00:00ZFrom Hawaii to Smart Cities: SkABNet presented at the ICCCN<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/35522054/icccn2023-93289cff3fef38d2cc15c9e1c99ac97ad6530a9e.jpg" /><p>Against the backdrop of Hawaii's serene beauty, Philipp was invited to present the paper "SkABNet: "A Data Structure for Efficient Discovery of Streaming Data for IoT" at the International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN) conference. ICCCN gatheres researchers from various corners of the world to discuss their latest findings focusing on Network Technologies, Network Protocols, IoT, Security, and Privacy. SkABNet is a Peer-To-Peer-based network, that allows to effiently search for data sources within a distributed sensor network with similar characteristics such as location or measurement types.</p><p>Photo: Johannes Kässinger</p>NAGR-fakmin-25943894-production2021-04-24T22:00:00ZPerCom Best Paper Award<img width="293" height="165" style="float:left" src="https://assets.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/instance_assets/fakmin/34486754/bestpaperpercom2021-c565c6a3c4da56c7b5e37461f8d6ea6a6bdc5995.png" /><p>The publication "Voltaire: Precise Energy-Aware Code Offloading Decisions with Machine Learning" by Martin Breitbach (University of Mannheim), Janick Edinger (University of Hamburg), Siim Kaupmees (University of Cambrigde), Heiko Trötsch (University of Mannheim), Christian Krupitzer (University of Hohenheim) and Christian Becker (University of Mannheim) was awarded the Mark Weiser Best Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (PerCom) (CORE Rating: A+). In the paper, the authors use methods such as machine learning and crowdsourcing to predict the complexity and required data transfer of computationally intensive tasks to make ad-hoc energy-efficient outsourcing decisions. The International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications is the premier conference for presenting scientific research in pervasive computing and pervasive communications.</p><p>Photo: Amy Murphy</p>