Björn B. Brandenburg
Faculty (tenured)
Real-Time Systems Group
Email: bbb -at- mpi-sws.org
I’m a tenured faculty member at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS), a position equivalent to a US associate professorship, and head of the Real-Time Systems Group.
Prior to joining MPI-SWS, I was a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2006–2011), where I worked with Jim Anderson. At UNC, I was supported in part by the German-American Fulbright Program. Originally, I’m from Berlin, Germany, where I attended TU Berlin (2003–2006).
My main research interests are real-time systems, operating systems, and embedded systems. My focus is the design and implementation of systems that are robust, efficient, and amenable to a priori analysis. To this end, my group engages in both systems building and the development of novel formal analysis methods.
Due to my work with OS kernels, I’m also interested in the construction, testing, validation, and performance evaluation of operating systems and other complex systems software.
Presently, my main focus is the Prosa project, a formalization of real-time scheduling theory with the Coq proof assistant.
When contacting me directly, please include samples of your work that you are proud of (e.g., major projects, open-source contributions, etc.) and writing samples (e.g., your technical blog, an undergrad or semester thesis, project reports, some documentation that you wrote, etc.). If available, please also include your undergraduate and graduate transcripts.
Regarding summer internships: Due to high demand, MPI-SWS’s summer internship program uses a competitive application process. Please apply through the portal and mention my name as someone you would be interested in working with. Feel free to contact me directly in addition after you’ve submitted your application through the portal.
I’m interested in growing the Prosa team: if you are familiar with the Coq proof assistant (or similar tools or computational logic in general) and would like to apply it to timing-related problems (as either intern, PhD student, or postdoc), please get in touch. If you have a background in real-time systems or formal methods and would like to learn Coq, I’m also open to discussing opportunities.
In the past, I’ve also had the pleasure to work closely with Pierre Roux (visited in 2023, researcher at ONERA), Matteo Zini (visited in 2023), Daniel Casini (visited in 2019, now assistant professor at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna - Pisa, Italy), Alessandro Biondi (visited in 2016, now professor at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna - Pisa, Italy), Pedro Fonseca (graduated 2015, now assistant professor at Purdue University), and Pramod Bhatotia (graduated 2015, now a full professor at TU Munich).
I enjoy building software tools for research purposes. Here are some of the more notable ones released over the years.
Additionally, I maintain some niche Python and Rust packages:
response-time-analysis-rs
: A Rust crate providing traits, definitions, and algorithms for response-time analysis.py-abs-sleep
: A Python library for absolutely timed sleeps and periodic activations on Linux.py-lllqos
: A Python wrapper for Linux’s wake-up latency QoS interface.
Professional associations:
Editor:
Program committee (PC) involvement:
Past steering committee involvement:
Past editorships:
Past chair appointments:
Past PC involvement: PLOS 2023, EMSOFT 2023, RTAS 2023, ERSA 2022, EMSOFT 2022, ECRTS 2022, RTAS 2022, EuroSys 2021, RTSS 2020, EMSOFT 2020, ECRTS 2020, ECRTS 2019, OSPERT 2019, NGOSCPS 2019, ASPLOS 2019 ERC, EuroSys 2019, RTSS 2018, Middleware 2018, RTCSA 2018, RTAS 2017, CMAAS 2017, RTSS 2016 + WiP, EMSOFT 2016, RTNS 2016, RTAS 2016 + WiP, EuroSys 2016, SYSTOR 2016, WMC 2015, RTNS 2015, EMSOFT 2015, RTSOPS 2015, ECRTS 2015, SYSTOR 2015, RTAS 2015 WiP track, SAC 2015 ES track, RTNS 2014, ETFA 2014 RTSOPS 2014, ECRTS 2014, RTAS 2014, RTSS 2013, RTNS 2013, ECRTS 2013, OSPERT 2013, RTAS 2013, EuroSys 2013, RTSS 2012, RTCSA 2012, RTNS 2012, OSPERT 2012.
Pre-covid, most days I could be found in the Kaiserslautern building of MPI-SWS in my office (room 416). Nowadays, it’s best to email me first before stopping by.
MPI-SWS Kaiserslautern is located right at the corner of Trippstadter Straße and the TUKL campus.
Mailing address:
MPI-SWS
Paul-Ehrlich-Straße G 26
D-67663 Kaiserslautern
Germany
Email: bbb -at- mpi-sws.org
Phone: +49 681 9303–8401
Please note that I strongly prefer emails over phone calls.