Systems
In the systems research area, our work covers a broad range of topics related to the design, implementation, experimental evaluation as well as verification and analysis of software and hardware systems. We span all levels of the systems stack: we investigate custom hardware designs and their impact on compilers and systems support; we explore new abstractions for systems software and distributed systems, with an emphasis on performance, security, reliability, and manageability; and we develop new software engineering practices for the design, modeling, and validation of complex software and hardware systems.
Our research in systems is driven by real-world challenges in the domains of cloud computing, cyber-physical systems, cybersecurity, data centres, data science, embedded systems, high-performance computing, pervasive systems, and reconfigurable computing. Much of our work has contributed to novel designs and optimisations for many applications, including big data analysis, biomedical computation, climate modelling, financial simulation, machine learning, policy management, and sensing.
We publish our scientific results across the architecture, data management, networking, performance engineering, software engineering, security, and systems communities. Many of our software and hardware implementations are available as open-source contributions.
Related videos
Towards the Diamond Age
After a decade as an academic pursuit, there is now a strong belief that dust particle sized sensors could enable whole new computer architectures, complementing cloud-based systems but pushing processing power out to these small devices in the field and bring about The Diamond Age of nanotechnology described in Neal Stephenson's award winning novel of the same name.
Towards the Diamond Age
Dust particle sized sensors could enable whole new computer architectures
After a decade as an academic pursuit, there is now a strong belief that dust particle sized sensors could enable whole new computer architectures, complementing cloud-based systems but pushing processing power out to these small devices in the field and bring about The Diamond Age of nanotechnology described in Neal Stephenson's award winning novel of the same name.
Rigorous engineering - What can we do? What should we do?
Developing and applying semantic models and tools for several key abstractions
The REMS project, Rigorous Engineering for Mainstream Systems, is developing and applying semantic models and tools for several key abstractions, including ARM, IBM POWER, and CHERI multiprocessors, C/C++ concurrency, C language, linking, POSIX filesystems, and TLS.
Autonomous computing and software systems
Autonomous computing and software systems and its possible application in the space sector
Professor Julie McCann discusses her work in autonomous computing and software systems and its possible application in the space sector.
Julie McCann: Smart dust
Algorithms that allow distributed wireless networks to become self-organising
Professor Julie McCann takes her inspiration from nature for writing algorithms that allow distributed wireless networks to become self-organising, adaptive and intelligent. Julie's technologies already find a home in monitoring water networks and to monitor pollution in cities. Looking ahead, sensors the size of dust will supersede today's cloud-based processing -- computing intelligence will move out on the edge.
Research groups and centres
Groups
- Adaptive Embedded Systems Engineering (AESE)
- Analysis, Engineering, Simulation & Optimization of Performance (AESOP)
- Custom Computing Group
- Large Scale Data & Systems (LSDS) Group
- Multicore Programming Group
- Resilient Information Systems Security (RISS)
- Social Computing Group
- Software Performance Optimisation
- Software Reliability Group
Academics
Academics
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Dr Cristian Cadar
Research interests
Software Engineering, Computer Systems and Software Security, with a focus on building practical techniques for improving the reliability and security of software systems.
Location
435, Huxley Building
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Dr Giuliano Casale
Research interests
Quality-of-service, Resource management, Cloud services, Software
Architecture.Location
432, Huxley Building
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Dr Alastair Donaldson
Research interests
Formal verification techniques for multicore software. Software performance optimization for multicore processors.
Location
422, Huxley Building
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Dr Naranker Dulay
Research interests
Security, Pervasive-Mobile-Distributed Systems, Networking, Software Engineering, Systems and Network Management, and Applied Machine Learning.
Location
562, Huxley Building
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Dr Tony Field
Research interests
Engineering for High-Performance, Virtual-time program execution (VTE), Functional programming, Individual-based models (IbMs).
Location
354, Huxley Building
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Dr Jana Giceva
Research interests
Support for Data Science on modern and future hardware across the systems stack: data processing layer, operating systems and resource management, to hardware accelerators and hardware/software co-design.
Location
426, Huxley Building
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Dr Thomas Heinis
Research interests
Scientific Data Management, Distributed Data Processing, Spatial Databases, Indexing.
Location
423, Huxley Building
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Prof. Paul Kelly
Research interests
Languages, compilers, operating systems for parallel computing. Domain-specific tools and active libraries. Computer systems issues underlying performance. Software tools for portable parallel programming. Irregular and data-intensive applications. Applying a broad range of mathematical and theoretical ideas to compute...
Location
L3 (upstairs), William Penney Building
304, Huxley Building -
Prof. William Knottenbelt
Personal details
Prof. William Knottenbelt Professor of Applied Quantitative AnalysisSend email+44 (0)20 7594 8331
Research interests
Application of mathematical modelling techniques to real life systems. modelling and optimisation in parallel queueing systems (especially split-merge and fork-join systems), modelling of storage systems, stochastic modelling of sport, stochastic modelling of healthcare systems, resource allocation and contro...
Location
363, ACE Extension
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Prof. Jeff Kramer
Research interests
Distributed Computing, Software Architectures, Behaviour Analysis, Software Evolution and Change, Adaptive Software Systems and Requirements Analysis.
Location
571, Huxley Building
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Prof. Kin Leung
Affiliations
Wireless Communications, Wireless Technologies, Communication Networks and Stochastic Modeling and Queueing Theory. In Dept. of
and Dept. of Computing . Location
810a, Electrical Engineering
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Prof. Wayne Luk
Research interests
Hardware and Architecture, Reconfigurable Computing, Design Automation.
Location
434, Huxley Building
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Prof. Emil Lupu
Research interests
Adaptive Systems and Security, Applied to: Personal Networks for Healthcare, Autonomous Vehicles, Wireless Sensor Networks, Mobile ad-hoc networks, moretraditional networked infrastructures, data quality and protection, Security for sensor based environments, Security Managemen...
Location
564, Huxley Building
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Prof. Julie McCann
Research interests
Decentralised Algorithms, Protocols, Cross-Layered Solutions to Wireless Sensor Networks, Ubiquitous and Mobile computing and Autonomic Computing.
Location
258, ACE Extension
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Prof. Peter Pietzuch
Research interests
Distributed Systems, Systems and Data Management and the Design and Engineering of Scalable, and Reliable and Secure Large-Scale Software Systems.
Location
442, Huxley Building
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Dr Holger Pirk
Research interests
My research interests lie in analytical query processing on memory-resident data. In particular, I study storage schemes and processing models for modern hardware.
Location
431, Huxley Building
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Prof. Morris Sloman
Personal details
Prof. Morris Sloman Professor of Distributed Systems ManagementSend email+44 (0)20 7594 8279
Research interests
Pervasive systems, adaptive distributed systems, and policy-based management.
Location
575, Huxley Building