Christian Bettstetter and his research group work on the design, modeling, and analysis of future networked communication systems, with focus on mobile and wireless networking (see figure below). Of particular interest are also interdisciplinary and theoretical aspects of self-organization and networked systems in general. Research expertise covers
- distributed algorithms and protocols;
- network theory;
- modeling, simulation, and performance analysis; and
- network and protocol architectures.
One goal is to design technology that will enable new applications going beyond classical applications of communication and computer networks, such as networked embedded systems with applications, e.g., in disaster management and automotive safety. Such systems require a different architectural thinking than usual telecommunication networks. We believe that four paradigms are especially important, and they are currently in the core of our activities:
- self-organization in communication and computer networks;
- multihop communications (ad hoc networking, relaying);
- exploiting cooperation between network devices; and
- exploiting the mobility of devices.
The research methodology is theoretical, simulation-based, and experimental. Methods range from protocol engineering and system simulation over prototyping on real hardware platforms to a set of mathematical methods (mainly stochastic processes, random graph theory, and complex networks). Research is at the intersection of electrical engineering and information technology, informatics, and applied mathematics.
The group cooperates with researchers from Orange Labs, DOCOMO Euro-Labs, Soongsil University, University of Porto, TU Munich, the University of Passau, and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization. Funding is obtained from major international companies as well as national and European funding agencies. In particular, the group is part of the Erasmus-Mundus doctoral school ICE (2011-2018) and the ESF-funded research network MiNEMA (2005-2009).