ReFLEX Lab

ReFLEX: Real-Time and Flexible Cyber-Physical Systems Lab

Lab Director:

• Dr. Steven Xiaotian Dai

Research Fellows:

• Dr. Nan Chen (2023-2027), Digital Twin for Adaptive Scheduling in Avionics (SCHEME project)

PhD students:

• Dr. Zou Jie (2019-2023), Safety-Driven Timing-Predictable and Resource-Efficient Scheduling for Autonomous Systems, co-supervisor: Prof. FREng. John McDermid → Research Fellow, University of York

PG students:

• Zirui Yuan (2023), Simulation and Optimization of Routerless Networks-on-Chips
• Zhijian Wang (2021), Priority Assignment Algorithms in Multiprocessor Real-Time Systems with Shared Resources → Research Scientist, TESLA
• Zixun Yu (2021), Smart Intersection Control with Back-Pressure Algorithms (co-supervised)

UG students:

• Chase Mo (2024/25), Traffic control with back-pressure
• Dom Decicco (2024/25), Routerless NoC optimization
• James Sutton (2024/25), Multi-robot scheduling for Warehouse
• Phoebe Russell (2024/25), Traffic control with back-pressure
• Dean Kenny (2020/21), Simulating and Improving the Scheduling in Time-Sensitive Networks

Research Advisors:

• Prof. Alan Burns
• Prof. Iain Bate

for prospective PhD students:

Note that a PhD programme is a commitment of 3-4 years of hard work. You should have the expectation that this is a hard path to go, and not everyone can finish it. If you are (still) interested in applying for a PhD, please continue to read —

I am happy to supervise the following research directions with some example topics:

• (R.1) Scheduling and allocation of real-time systems
  • Novel scheduling and allocation methods for real-time systems
  • Interference and contention modelling and analysis on multi- and many-cores
  • Scheduling on complex architectures, including many-cores and CPU-GPU heterogeneous platforms
• (R.2) Digital Twins for real-time embedded systems
  • Dynamic modelling and verification of real-time systems
  • Use digital twins to improve scheduling and allocation of real-time systems
  • Fault and hazard identification using digital twins
• (R.3) Addressing timing problems in Robotics and AI
  • Timing assurance of robotic and autonomous systems using, for example, probabilistic models and formal methods
  • Multi-robot systems scheduling, management and coordination
  • Timing analysis of ROS 2 executors
• (R.4) Design and verification of Long-lived Cyber-Physical Systems
  • Using digital twin to develop and improve CPS
  • Formal verification of CPS
• (R.5) Hardware for real-time systems and internet-of-things
  • Efficient, safe, secure hardware for RTS and IoT applications.
  • Instruction set architecture (ISA) for real-time systems.

Please drop me an email (xiaotian.dai (at) york.ac.uk) if you want to discuss this further. I am happy to discuss immature ideas and would appreciate it if a more detailed proposal (details are here) could be provided to ease the discussion. The entry date for PhDs is normally in October, but other starting dates can be settled.

The department is offering a limited number of studentships, details can be found here. If you are from China, please find details on the China Scholarships Council Scholarship (CSC).

for UG/PG projects:

ReFLEX lab is open for supervising undergraduate/MSc projects related to cyber-physical systems, some examples are:

• Simulating and improving the scheduling in Time-Sensitive Networks
• Large-scale scheduling of Time-Sensitive Networks
• Traffic scheduling for smart transportation
• Discrete simulation of Routerless Network-on-Chips

For more details, please look at the departmental project lists. We also accept self-defined projects should that align with the lab research objectives.