Competence centre networks and distributed systems
Networks and distributed systems are a decisive innovation driver in almost all areas. This is particularly true for the three focal areas "mobility and logistics", "digitalization" and "information/communication technologies" identified in the research profile of Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. It is therefore natural that researchers of the University would occupy themselves in the form of a competence centre with the cross-sectional topic "networks and distributed systems".
From intelligent transport infrastructure to supply chain management and smart grids to ambient assisted living: most innovations in these areas are unthinkable without networks and distributed systems. The Competence Centre for Networks and Distributed Systems bundles the research and development activities of seven research groups at the University in this field. This promotes closer cooperation within the University and with our external partners. Through this focus, the competence centre pursues the strategy of optimising the potential of individual research fields through collaborations with the other research groups at the site and consistently exploiting synergies that arise from the pooling of resources and capabilities.
The Competence Centre for Networks and Distributed Systems of Department 2 consists of numerous researchers and students. Our projects revolve around progressive problem solving as well as the use of new ideas in practice. We are committed to the training of young scientists and the establishment of interdisciplinary doctoral alliances.
Based on the implementation of abstract research findings in practical applications, our focus is not only on the development of innovative future technologies but also on their successful transfer. In addition to companies of all sizes, our cooperation partners are public institutions and other universities that support us in our research. An intensive exchange with project partners working in the field delivers valuable scientific and technical innovations. The continuous involvement of corporate partners ensures that implementation is practical and geared to market requirements. The resulting findings can be incorporated into technologies, processes and procedures in the form of products and services that enable clients to compete on the global market. Thus, our projects offer a high benefit for all project participants and serve in particular to strengthen Hesse as a business and research location.
Our research groups in detail
The Network Security, Information Security and Data Protection Research Group researches and develops next and future generation security technologies. The group currently consists of six researchers supported by numerous students. Projects revolve around network and system security, security organisation, assessment and management, reliability and availability of complex systems, network management and technical data protection.
For more information, see this page.
Cooperation partners include not only companies of all sizes, but also public institutions such as the German Federal Office for Information Security, with which the VAIR tool for assessing the availability of infrastructure in data centres was jointly developed. In addition to the development of innovative future technologies, the focus is also on their successful transfer into practice. For example, the DaNe project developed market-ready software that small and medium-sized enterprises can use to take the secure and data-protection-compliant operation of their IT infrastructure into their own hands. As a facilitator of abstract research findings into practical application, the group develops technologies, processes and procedures that enable clients to compete in the global marketplace.
For more information, see here.
The Operating Systems and Computer Networks Research Group deals with the most current issues in research and practice in these two key topics, which are elementary to computer science. Operating systems and computer networks are important topics in practical computer science and, to a lesser extent, in technical computer science.
Operating systems are the interface between a computer's hardware and its users and their software processes. In addition, operating systems manage a computer's hardware components and stored data. Among the most current topics addressed by this research group are lightweight operating systems for embedded systems and Internet-of-Things applications, container and application virtualisation, modern file systems, and, more generally, the promotion of free software.
In the area of computer networks, the research group is primarily concerned with various ways of networking mobile systems, modern standards for high-performance and energy-saving wireless networks, as well as protocols for implementing reliable and secure connections at the relevant levels of the reference models.
Mobile computing, i.e. the location-independent use of computers, combined with the use of sensor data that generate information from the environment, as well as the networking of different, distributed mobile systems play an increasingly important role in computer science, both from a research and a practical point of view. The Mobile Computing Research Group investigates the practical use of these technologies and the (distributed) algorithms relevant to them.
The future of communication networks (next generation networks, future networks, 5G, 6G) is researched by the Telecommunications Networks Research Group. The current focus areas are "wireless mesh networks (WMN)", "virtualisation of network functions and network slicing", "5G", "machine-to-machine communications (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT)", and "trust and blockchain". The research and development activities cover the entire cycle from requirements, concepts and realizations to evaluation and testing. The goal is to provide providers and users with optimised, cost-effective and future-oriented communication solutions from both a service and network perspective.
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Wireless and (smart) sensor networks (WSN) represent one of the foundations of the Internet of Things (IoT). Especially in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), large amounts of data are collected and processed using advanced analytics with data science (DS) methods from computational science and machine learning. The fields of work of the "WSN & IoT & DS" Research Group include the areas human activity recognition (HAR), safety critical systems (SCS), bio- and sports medicine, and environmental engineering. In doing so, the research group collaborates with the HAR, CSI and INDAS Research Groups and international partners.
The Information Security Research Group investigates the future resilience of digital communication and information infrastructures. Its work focuses on network protocols, applied cryptography and the technical security of AI infrastructures. The aim is to analyse current and future security risks from a practical perspective and, on that basis, to develop technical concepts, migration strategies and protective measures for organisations, businesses and public institutions.
One key focus is the transition to post-quantum security. This involves analysing how existing cryptographic methods, protocols and infrastructures can be prepared for the threats posed by future quantum computers. This includes analysing the cryptographic methods in use and the existing key material, identifying cryptographic dependencies, and developing migration paths for applications, communication protocols and certificate infrastructures. Particular emphasis is placed on crypto-agility, i.e. the ability to replace cryptographic schemes in existing systems in a controlled and traceable manner.
Another key focus is the secure deployment and operation of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). The risks associated with dual-stack environments, where IPv4 and IPv6 are operated in parallel, are a particular concern in this context. These include additional attack surfaces, misconfigurations, monitoring gaps, ways of circumventing existing security mechanisms, and operational downtime risks resulting from increased complexity.
A third area of focus is the technical security of AI infrastructures. This involves examining how large language models (LLMs) and other AI systems can be securely operated within organisations and businesses, and integrated into existing IT environments. The focus here is not on content-related interference with the LLMs, but on the technical safeguarding of the underlying infrastructure and its interfaces. Particular attention is paid to API and tool integrations, access control, secure communication protocols, logging, and client segregation.