Distributed Systems

A diagram of a cloud surrounded by different digital technologies

Publications

Projects

DSI: Data Science of the Natural Environment
16/04/2018 → 15/04/2024
Research

Adaptive Brokerage for the Cloud
01/01/2018 → 30/09/2023
Research

Pin the Tail: Understanding Straggler Manifestation in Internet-based Distributed Systems
01/09/2017 → 30/11/2019
Research

Cyber Security of the Internet of Things
29/02/2016 → …
Research

Declarative and Interoperable Overlay Networks, Applications to Systems of Systems (DIONASYS)
01/12/2014 → 30/12/2018
Research

Research Activity

We are exploring the properties of hardware and software systems to enable us to express and reason about all forms of computational systems.

Distributed systems are becoming increasingly complex and are perhaps more accurately described as (distributed) systems of systems, encompassing areas of technological innovation including:

  • cloud computing
  • multi-core architectures
  • the Internet of Things
  • mobile computing

Members of the group have expertise in research areas spanning data centres, cloud computing, many-core systems, networking, IoT, middleware, compilers, and runtime optimisation.

The Distributed Systems research group is interested in the fundamental challenges related to managing such complex distributed systems, including:

  • How to achieve the critical property of interoperability in complex, highly heterogeneous distributed systems
  • Overlay management in such environments to deliver end-to-end quality of service properties (including the dimension of energy efficiency)
  • Programmability to ease the burden of developing applications and services
  • Software engineering techniques more generally to tame this complexity

The group also carries out more applied work, examining the role of distributed systems in addressing some of the grand challenges facing society today. In particular, we work with the Environmental Sciences community in providing distributed systems support to scientists. This collaboration is to enable a new kind of integrative, open and collaborative science as required to address issues like climate change. This work includes:

  • The role of cloud computing in supporting this new kind of science
  • The purpose of the Internet of Things in providing real-time data streams on different facets of the natural environment to facilitate holistic environmental management strategies
  • Examination of techniques to simplify the execution of (potentially complex) environmental models in the cloud.

We also address the role of complex distributed systems in underpinning smart cities research looking in particular at issues around 'in the wild' deployment of distributed systems technologies.

Related Groups

  • MetaLab

    MetaLab is a group of scientists and researchers who explore the properties of hardware and software systems at a meta level. With modern computer systems growing in complexity far beyond the ability of humans to reason about them, this means building machine-based capabilities to model, reason about and control these systems.

  • CompuCast

    We couldn’t find any good podcasts just for computer scientists; yup, there are lots for many other scientists and a few for engineers, but not for us. We set out to produce an interesting and varied show aimed specifically at those with a reasonable level of understanding of computer science: we don’t want to dance around the detail, we want to embrace it and really learn something.