Innovation at the intersection of computer architecture and embedded systems.
Welcome to the Computer Architecture for Embedded Systems (CAES) group of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science. The CAES group focuses on research and education in computer architecture and computing systems. In the broader context of a digital continuum, we design, prototype, and evaluate novel computer systems, algorithms, and computing paradigms at various scales, from embedded systems to data centres and supercomputers. Our goal is to create new highly functional systems, while enabling by design non-functional properties such as high-performance, high-efficiency, high-dependability, low-power, low-area, and/or real-time behaviour.
We aim to advance research and education to tackle the complexities of today’s digital landscape. Our commitment to efficiency, sustainability, and societal impact drives us to develop cutting-edge technologies that address real-world challenges.
As applications and digital services become increasingly distributed, a significant portion of the world’s computing is taking place at the edge, driven by developments such as the Internet-of-Things (IoT), machine learning, smart grids, or real-time dependable systems. Such applications require a complex compute infrastructure/fabric, with different constraints in terms of power consumption, performance, reliability, and security. Providing the right computer architecture building blocks, compute paradigms, and efficient (coordination) algorithms for this infrastructure/fabric is vital for the efficient integration of these systems, and it drives the core research of CAES. This includes designing sustainable high-performance architectures for compute-intensive scientific or AI workloads, as well as dependable, secure, and energy-efficient architectures that can be validated and trusted for operation in critical environments, for space-grade or safety-critical applications.
Designing and deploying these systems to tackle the biggest societal challenges, including the energy transition, responsible AI, personalized health, and space exploration are essential contributions to the lasting societal impact of our research.
Our research success relies on the interdisciplinarity of CAES: we combine Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Mathematics expertise, methods, and tools to tackle the diverse challenges and opportunities in designing efficient computing continuum infrastructure/fabric. CAES’ large scope and diverse expertise allows us to tackle real problems with a broad and systemic view, allowing for the development of novel technologies, architectures, design automation tools, algorithms, methodologies, and models. We leverage knowledge from different domains, at multiple hardware and software levels of abstraction, providing ample collaboration opportunities locally (within EEMCS and UT), nationally, and globally (within EU and beyond).
The CAES core values - efficiency, sustainability, reproducible research, open science, and societal impact - drive our research goals, methods, and tools. We strive to instil these values in our broad education offer, and it is central to our mission to transmit them to our students and graduates. We are committed to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive research and education environment, where staff and students can grow, develop, and collaborate together.
CAES provides a range of courses for Bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, along with several Master's programs. Besides, we are involved in the supervision of about forty students.