Martin Hiller DEEDS Group Department of Computer Science Technical University Darmstadt Germany Email: hiller@informatik.tu-darmstadt.de

News

Welcome

Hi, and welcome to my home page. I am a member of the DEEDS Group here at Chalmers (lead by Professor Neeraj Suri). On this page you can find most of my publications downloadable as PDF's, check which courses I teach, and get some more information about who I am and what I do.

The story of my life (compact version): I was born on the 23rd of June 1971, here in Göteborg, Sweden. When I had reached the mature age of 2, my parents moved to Kiel, Germany (my father is German). After eight glorious years in Kiel, we moved back to Göteborg (this was in 1981, when I was 10). Since then I have lived in or around Göteborg. In 1990 I started my undergraduate studies here at Chalmers. In 1996, after having completed the MSc degree in Computer Science & Engineering, I started to work for Volvo (Swedish automotive manufacturer) designing and implementing software for embedded systems. In 1997, I went back to my Alma Mater to pursue graduate studies in dependable and embedded systems and completed my PhD here by successfully defending my thesis on the 18th of October, 2002. Now I have gone back to Volvo in the pursuit of a research oriented industrial career.

My Research

My research interests span the vast area of dependable, embedded and distributed software. More specifically, I have been mainlyinterested in the following areas:

• Dependable and robust software for embedded control systems

• Software-implemented fault tolerance

• Software fault injection and software-implemented fault injection

• Error detection and recovery

• Software Analsyis and Profiling with regard to error propagation and error effect

In the last few years I have had a focus on analysis of error propagation in software, i.e., analysing how errors propagate in modular software. The aim of this work is to devise a methodology for analysing, and profiling, modular software such that the system developer can identify those modules and signals/variables which are the most vulnerable and/or the most critical to system operation. Using such a profiling technique can enable system designers to perform a cost-benefit analysis before allocating resources (any kind of resources, e.g., HW, labour cost, etc.) to dependability efforts.

The work performed on methods for software profiling resulted in a framework called EPIC (Exposure, Permeability, Impact, Criticality - four measures/metrics we have introduced to enable software profiling) as well as a software fault injection tool called PROPANE (Propagation Analysis Environment). More information on the framework and the tool can be found in my publications.

Information

Degrees                                                         

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Computer Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 2002

• Licentiate of Engineering (LicEng) in Computer Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 1999

• Master of Science (MSc) in Computer Science & Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 1996

Awards & Grants                                               

• Microsoft Student Grant, International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis, 2002

• DSN Travel Award, International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks, 2002

• William C. Carter Award, International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks, 2001

• Best Paper Award, International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering, 1998

Other Information                                             

• Student member of the IEEE and ACM.

• I may sometimes be found at Volvo Technology (formerly known as Volvo Technological Development), Dept. 6200 Electronics & Software, Chalmers Science Park, Tel +46-31-772 4169, Email martin.hiller@volvo.com

Teaching

I have been teaching/participated in the following courses:
 

Publications

Note: This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.

Conference papers                                              

A Control Theory Approach for Analyzing the Effects of Data Errors in Safety-Critical Control Systems, Askerdal Ö., Gäfvert M., Hiller M., Suri N., to appear in Pacific Rim International Symposium on Dependable Computing (PRDC'02), 2002 [PDF/201k]

An Approach to Specify and Test Component-Based Dependable Software, Jhumka A., Hiller M., Suri N., to appear in International Symposium on High Assurance Systems Engineering (HASE02), 2002 Winner of the Young Scientist Award 

Component-Based Synthesis of Dependable Embedded Software, Jhumka A., Hiller M., Suri N., to appear in International Symposium on Formal Techniques in Real-Time and Fault Tolerant Systems (FTRTFT'02), 2002 [PDF/159k]

PROPANE: An Environment for Examining the Propagation of Errors in Software, Hiller M., Jhumka A., Suri N., Proceedings of the ACM International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (ISSTA'02), pp. 81-85, 2002 [PS/715k] Also available: conference presentation [PPT/345k]

On the Placement of Software Mechanisms for Detection of Data Errors, Hiller M., Jhumka A., Suri N., Proceedings of the International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN'02), pp. 135-144, 2002 [PDF/459k] Also available: conference presentation [PPT/245k]

On Systematic Design of Consistent Executable Assertions for Distributed Embedded Software, Jhumka A., Hiller M., Claesson V., Suri N., Proceedings of the ACM Joint Conference Languages Compilers and Tools for Embedded Systems/Software and Compilers for Embedded Systems (LCTES/SCOPES), pp. 74-83, 2002 [PDF/146k]

Assessing Inter-modular Error Propagation in Distributed Software, Jhumka A., Hiller M., Suri N., Proceedings of the 20th Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems (SRDS-20), pp. 152-161, 2001 [PDF/350k]

An Approach for Analysing the Propagation of Data Errors in Software, Hiller M., Jhumka A., Suri N., Proceedings of the International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN'01), pp. 161-170, 2001 [PDF/157k] Also available: conference presentation [PPT/313k] [PDF/355k] Winner of the William C. Carter Award 

Executable Assertions for Detecting Data Errors in Embedded Control Systems, Hiller M., Proceedings of the International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN'00) (FTCS-30 & DCCA-8), pp. 24-33, 2000 [PDF/119k] Also available: conference presentation [PPT/157k] [PDF/101k]

Error Recovery Using Forced Validity Assisted by Executable Assertions for Error Detection: An Experimental Evaluation, Hiller M., Proceedings of the 25th EUROMICRO Conference, Volume II, pp. 105-112, 1999 [PDF/105k]

An Experimental Comparison of Fault and Error Injection, Christmansson J., Hiller M., Rimén M., Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE-9), pp. 396-378, 1998 [PDF/107k] Winner of the Best Paper Award 

Fast Abstracts                                                  

Quantitative Identification of Non-Dependable Modules and Signals in Software, Hiller M., Jhumka A., Claesson V., Suri N., Proceedings of the International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE'01), 2001 [PDF/29k]

Systematic Design of Consistent Executable Assertions for Distributed Software, Jhumka A., Hiller M., Claesson V., Suri N., Proceedings of the International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE'01), 2001

Technical Reports                                               

Error Detection Using Executable Assertions, Hiller M., Technical Report No. 99-23, Dept. of Computer Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, 1999

Error Tolerance Mechanisms for Embedded Control Systems, Hiller M., Technical Report No. 99-22, Dept. of Computer Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, 1999 

Software Fault Tolerance Techniques from a Real-Time Systems Point of View: An Overview, Hiller M., Technical Report No. 98-16, Dept. of Computer Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, 1998 [PDF/244k]

Theses                                                          

Using Software to Handle Data Errors in Embedded Control Systems, Hiller M., Lic thesis, Technical Report No. 328L, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, 1999 [PDF/1227k]  Errata for the thesis [PDF/28k]

Miscellaneous                                                   

Om risken för oredlighet inom forskning - En liten undersökning av en teknisk institution, Hiller M., Terminsuppgift i kursen Vetenskapsteori och forskningsetik, Chalmers tekniska högskola, 2000 [PDF/54k] (In swedish,  password required)