Go to the official and up-to-date pages of the Software Engineering Research Group Web at HVL

Software systems play an essential role in all areas of society including public administration, transportation systems, communication systems, banking and finance, control and automation, healthcare, robotics, and simulation and monitoring in a wide range of engineering disciplines. Software engineering is concerned with the concepts, principles, methods and tools used for the design, implementation, evaluation, deployment, and maintenance of software and IT systems.

A main focus area of the research group is on model-driven software engineering investigating the application of models in the construction of software.  Model-driven software engineering is a paradigm intended to address challenges related to adaptability, productivity, and reliability of software systems. Models are used in the software development process and for both validation in the problem domain (i.e., determining whether the software design is satisfying requirements) and for verification in the technical domain (i.e., determining whether the software is correctly implemented). Models are manipulated by software engineering tools and the software development including automated code generation is performed using transformations. The application of models makes it possible to use high-level and domain specific languages for software and system development, it supports automated code generation for a wide range of platforms based on the same underlying model, and it enables simulation, testing, verification, and monitoring of software both prior to implementation and at run-time.

• Theory and software tools for domain-specific modelling languages
• Run-time verification and model-based testing
• Coloured Petri Nets for the engineering of distributed systems
• Requirements engineering and software architecture

The research results of the group is being applied in domains such as health, automotive, robotics, and fisheries. In particular, the group has conducted research in process modelling and improvement, process-aware software systems, cloud-based services, protocol software and networked embedded systems, and mobile applications. The research activities has also included the development of DPF Workbench, WebDPF, and CPN Tools.

Members of the group currently supervise several PhD students supported buy a combination of internal and external funding. The group also has several post-doctoral researchers and members of the group supervise more than 10 master’s thesis projects on the master’s degree in software engineering.

The main objectives of the group are to:

• Develop a long-term strategic research strength in formal foundations of software engineering methods, and develop software engineering tool-sets for use in applied research projects.
• Be involved in joint research projects and collaboration with industry and society partners evaluating and applying our research results for the development of software and IT systems in areas such healthcare, control and automation, smart-cities, and fisheries.
• Have a significant collaboration with international research groups, including exchange of master and PhD students, and mutual research visits.
• Contribute with research competence to the master’s courses MOD250 (Advanced Software Technology) and MOD251 (Modern  System Development Methods), and the new bachelor course DAT109 (Software Engineering) as well as to the courses on model-driven software engineering and verification that are part of the PhD programme in computer science.
• Publish in high-quality journals and conferences in the areas of software engineering,  model-driven software engineering, formal methods and theoretical computer science, and be active as PC members/chairs, organizers, keynote/editor of well-renomated journals, conferences, and workshops.

Aligned with the research objectives, the group is currently involved in the following externally funded research projects:

• • • COEMS: Continuous Observation of Embedded Multicore Systems is a 3-year EU H2020 funded RIA project (https://www.coems.eu). The goal is the detection and identification of non-deterministic software failures caused by race conditions and access to inconsistent data. COEMS technology will provide an efficient real-time access and analysis for operating safe software systems. It is followed by the COEMS Training Network, funded by the Research Council (2017-2020, 2020/21).
    • INTROMAT: INtroducing personalized TReatment Of Mental health problems using Adaptive Technology is a 5 years Norwegian Research Council funded IKTPLUSS Lighthouse project (http://intromat.no/). The vision is to improve public mental health with innovative ICT. The project aims to bridge the gap between the burden of disease and unmet needs by integrating innovative technologies and psychological treatments.
    • Modern Refactoring: bilateral Norwegian-Brazilian project with UFCG, funded by SIU & CAPES (2017-2021).
    • HelseTekLab Bergen: Is a HVL funded 2 years strategic project to establish a regional competence center for health technology. It aims to strengthen the cooperation between the health sector, academia and the ICT industry in the western part of Norway.
    • PEDA: Performance Evaluation of Distributed Automation Architectures with Schneider Electric investigating the use of Coloured Petri Nets and supporting computer tools for assessing the reliability of complex automation systems.
    • EDoCS: Model-driven Software Engineering of Doser Control Software with SCA Solutions investigating the use of Coloured Petri Nets to implement software used in gluing robots for the production of cars.
    • SaMS: Sammen om Multippel Sklerose, is a Norwegian Research Council funded project which in the first round financed development of software support to make individualised electronic communication between MS-patients and the specialist healthcare. The software is intended for integration with HelseNorge.no and depending on further funds the project will continue to be tailored for other chronic patient groups.
    • Methods and Tool Support for Refinement, Model Transformation and Verification of Network System: bilateral Norwegian-Chinese project with SWU, Chongqing, funded by SIU (2017/18).
    • DESSIBAR: DEcision Support Tools for Sustainable Management of Capelin Stocks in Icelandic and BARents Sea Ecosystems is a 3 year Nordic Council of minister funded project.  The goal is to ensure sustainable harvest of the capelin stocks through pooling research resources to develop common/shared tools for monitoring, stock projection and target rules for the capelin stock.  
    • NGEA: Next Generation Electrical Architecture project (FFI-Vinnova) – Volvo cars, Reference No. 2014-05599 http://www.vinnova.se/sv/Resultat/Projekt/Effekta/2009-02186/Next-generation-electrical-architecture/ and NGEA2: Next Generation Electrical Architecture 2 project (FFI-Vinnova) – Volvo cars
    • ASSUME: Assumption Management Framework for Automotive Embedded Software Development). 2013/2017 Vinnova.