The research focus of the Group of Computer Architecture is on circuit and system design. Especially, we are looking into the design methodology that we enrich by the use of formal techniques.

Circuits and systems were mainly applied in computers a few years ago. Meanwhile they are part of everyday life and are used more and more in safety- critical areas. The application domains range from medicine devices to automotive units. Today, in the automotive sector already up to 40% of the costs result from electronics. Additionally, an increasing number of "critical" functions like braking and steering are assisted or controlled by electronic devices. Thus, the requirements for the design methods that ensure the correctness of these systems are increasing.

The main research areas of the group are formal verification and test pattern generation. While verification is used to check the functional correctness, test pattern generation is applied as a post production test.

In the context of formal methods efficient algorithms and data structures are very important. Widely accepted in industry are methods based on Boolean satisfiability or decision diagrams since they allow to handle large industrial designs.