Decentralized Systems and Network Services Research Group
Under the term "Decentralized Systems and Network Services" we understand distributed and networked technical systems that span over more than one administrative domain. Hence, their operation depends on more than one party. Our research focuses on:
- Blockchains, broadcast and consensus algorithms and smart contracts
- P2P-networks and network monitoring
- Decentralized messaging at the example of Matrix
- Identity Management and Access Control Systems
- Secure and privacy-aware computing in partially trustworthy environments.
News | News Archive
Today, our staff member Oliver Stengele successfully defended his dissertation. For his work titled "Decentralizing Software Identity Management", Oliver researched approaches that enable developers to sovereignly establish and manage unique identities for software. Additionally, he implemented a digital time capsule on the Ethereum blockchain and employed it as part of an independent review process. We congratulate our colleague!
We present our new publication “On Extend-Only Directed Posets and Derived Byzantine-Tolerant Replicated Data Types” at this year's Workshop on Principles and Practice of Consistency for Distributed Data. In the paper, we show a new formalization of the decentralized Matrix system using directed partially-ordered sets, which allow a more extensive model than previous approaches based on directed acyclic graphs. The Extended Version on Arxiv is freely available already.
The research group presented itself at "Meet the Chairs" as part of the Master O-Phase, organized by the Fachschaft Mathematik/Informatik, with a Poster, our Bitcoin Monitoring, and candy. We are grateful for the good organization and the stimulating conversations and look forward to next time.
For various application-oriented research activities in the areas of automotive software management, assistive humanoid robotics, and mobility-as-a-service systems, the Decentralized Systems and Network Services research group has several openings for PhD students/research assistants interested in research that combines theory and practice. Research activities focus on the design and analysis of decentralized methods for identity and access management, payments, and secure and privacy-friendly data exchange. Her/his work is part of a larger research project and offers the opportunity for a PhD. For more information and how to contact us, please visit the Human Resources Services page.