DECO Lab - Distributed Edge and Cloud Computing

Advancing software engineering for distributed systems, from cloud, edge, and IoT to hybrid architectures.

DECO Lab reinforces European research, development, education, and innovation efforts across the computing continuum.
Currently DECO Lab focuses on three pillars:

1. Sustainable & Energy-Efficient Computing

Engineering a cloud-edge-IoT continuum that is sustainable, and energy- and carbon-efficient.

• Software tools for engineering sustainable cloud infrastructures including simulations, architecture, and testing for energy-efficient cloud-based solutions.
• Software Architecture for cost, performance, and energy- and carbon-efficienct systems.
• Sustainable Software Systems and Sustainable AI Systems that reduce the negative environmental and social impact of software and AI across their full lifecycle.
• TinyML and embedded AI compilers to deploy intelligence on lightweight, low-power devices at the edge.

2. Trustworthy, Self-Adaptive & Compliant AI Systems

Making AI-enabled systems that adapt safely, explain themselves, and hold up under regulation.

• Control-loop patterns and feedback-driven architectures for self-adaptive, AI-enabled systems.
• Compliance of AI-enabled systems with the EU AI Act.
• A robust, ethically sound foundation for navigating modern data ecosystems.
• Human-oriented software engineering including emotion- and behavior-aware adaptive interfaces to affect-aware, reinforcement-learning-based personalization.

3. MLOps & Scalable AI Engineering

Turning ML models into operable, reliable production systems.

• Knowledge-driven and self-managing architectures that reconfigure themselves as data and operating conditions change.
• Scalable and modular AI-pipeline architectures for fault-tolerant and dynamically routed data processing.
• Operational metrics and reliability engineering for ML systems.
• Pipelines for data-driven and privacy-sensitive systems.
• Managing large, heterogeneous data ecosystems.

Working With Us

We enjoy working with industry, government and research partners and offer the following in addition to our expertise:

• A dedicated Research and Development environment for experimenting and testing with edge-cloud hardware and software, established in the SDU lab facilities, for domains such as Cloud-Edge-IoT Continuum, Robotics, Built Environments, XR and Energy Systems.
• Consulting on cloud and AI architectural solutions.
• Research-based innovation on large data ecosystems management.
• Development and Evaluation of cost and energy-efficient systems and middleware.
• Supporting the reduction of negative environmental and social impacts of AI deployment.

Education

The SDU Software Engineering program sits at the forefront of cutting-edge education, giving students the skills the rapidly evolving cloud, edge, and AI landscape demands.
DECO Lab contributes to this at both levels of the programme, we are involved in the bachelor education, alongside the courses we offer for the master's specialization:

• Big Data and Data Science Technologies: dataset selection, data ingestion, distributed data storage, distributed data processing, and data visualization.
• Cloud Computing Continuum: cloud services, infrastructures, architectures, emergent trends, and cloud-edge systems.
• Software Technology of Internet of Things: IoT architecture, design and implementation, and performance measurement.