Falk Howar
I am a professor at the chair for software engineering at Dortmund University of Technology and lead the research project "scenario-based testing for autonomous robotic systems" (STARS) at Fraunhofer ISST.
I am interested in the development of correct and safe software systems with a particular focus on automated analysis, testing, and verification of such systems. My work is mainly based on automated generation of behavioral models of components, systems, and their environments using dynamic and static analysis techniques, e.g., automata learning, machine learning techniques, symbolic execution, or static code analysis.
I like to work on problems that have a strong motivation in practical challenges. Over the past few years, I applied my research to automotive and aeronautical control software, automated air-traffic management software, and in industrial software development tools:
Contact Details
- Email:
falk.howar[ at ]tu-dortmund.de - Address:
Dortmund University of Technology
Department of Computer Science
Lehrstuhl für Software Engineering (XIV)
Otto-Hahn-Str. 12
44227 Dortmund
Germany - Online:
TU Dortmund, researchgate, google scholar, dblp, linkedin, xing.
Recent Publications
For a complete list check the publications page.
- Falk Howar, Fadi Jabbour, and Malte Mues. JConstraints: A Library for Working with Logic Expressions in Java. (B60, to appear) [PDF]
- Falk Howar, Dimitra Giannakopoulou, Malte Mues, Jorge A. Navas. Generating Component Interfaces by Integrating Static and Symbolic Analysis, Learning, and Runtime Monitoring. ISoLA 2018. [PDF]
- Falk Howar, Bernhard Steffen. Active Automata Learning in Practice. Book chapter in Amel Bennaceur, Reiner Hähnle, and Karl Meinke (eds.) Machine Learning for Dynamic Software Analysis: Potentials and Limits. LNCS/LNPSE 11026:123-148, Springer, 2018. [PDF]
- Marko Dimjasevic, Falk Howar, Kasper Søe Luckow, and Zvonimir Rakamaric. Study of Integrating Random and Symbolic Testing for Object-Oriented Software. IFM 2018. [PDF]
- Jan Toennemann, Andreas Rausch, Falk Howar, and Benjamin Cool. Checking Consistency of Real-Time Requirements on Distributed Automotive Control Software Early in the Development Process Using UPPAAL. FMICS 2018. [PDF]
- Adina Aniculaesei, Falk Howar, Peer Denecke, and Andreas Rausch. Automated generation of requirements-based test cases for an adaptive cruise control system. VST@SANER 2018. [PDF]
- Paul Fiterau-Brostean and Falk Howar. Learning Register Automata with Sequence Numbers and Windows of TCP Implementations. FMICS-AVoCS 2017. [PDF]
- Kasper Luckow, Dimitra Giannakopoulou, Falk Howar, Malte Isberner, Marko Dimjasevic, Zvonimir Rakamaric, Vishwanath Raman and Temesghen Kahsai. JDart: A Dynamic Symbolic Analysis Framework. TACAS 2016. [PDF]
- Malte Mauritz, Falk Howar, and Andreas Rausch. Assuring the Safety of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems through a Combination of Simulation and Runtime Monitoring. In ISoLA 2016, 2016. [PDF]
- Adina Aniculaesei, Daniel Arnsberger, Falk Howar, and Andreas Rausch. Towards the Verification of Safety-critical Autonomous Systems in Unknown Environments. In V2CPS, 2016. [PDF]
- Henrik Peters, Falk Howar, Andreas Rausch. Towards inferring environment models for control functions from recorded signal data. 1st Int. Workshop on Validating Software Tests (VST 2016) at SANER 2016. [PDF]
- Sofia Cassel, Falk Howar, Bengt Jonsson, Bernhard Steffen. Active learning for extended finite state machines. Formal Asp. Comput. 28(2): 233-263 (2016)
- [Best Artifact Award] Malte Isberner, Falk Howar, Bernhard Steffen. The Open-Source LearnLib - A Framework for Active Automata Learning. CAV 2015. [PDF]
- Guillaume Brat, David H. Bushnell, Misty Davies, Dimitra Giannakopoulou, Falk Howar, Temesghen Kahsai. Verifying the Safety of a Flight-Critical System. FM 2015. [PDF]
- Sofia Cassel, Falk Howar and Bengt Jonsson. RALib: A LearnLib extension for inferring EFSMs. DIFTS 2015. [PDF]
- Dimitra Giannakopoulou, Falk Howar, Malte Isberner, Todd Lauderdale, Zvonimir Rakamaric, Vishwanath Raman. Taming test inputs for separation assurance. ASE 2014.
Tools
For links and detailed descriptions check the tools page.
- jConstraints: a constraint solver abstraction layer for Java
- jDart: a framework for dynamic symbolic execution of Java programs
- PSYCO: a symbolic behavioral interfaces for Java components
- RaLib: an extension of LearnLib for Register Automata
- LearnLib: a library for automata learning
Service
Editor
I am currently one of the managing editors of electronic communications of the European Association of Software Science and Technology (ECEASST)
Program Committees
- 2018: TACAS 2019, FMICS 2018 (chair), ICGI 2018, LearnAut 2018, ISoLA 2018, JPF WS 2018
- 2017: TACAS 2018, LearnAut 2017, JPF WS 2017
- 2016: TACAS 2017, NFM 2016, ICGI 2016, ISoLA 2016
- 2015: VST2016, SEFM 2015, SOFSEM 2015, JPF WS 2015
- 2014: Artifact Evaluation of ISSTA 2014 (Chair), SEFM 2014, ICGI 2014, JPF WS 2014, ISoLA 2014
- 2013: JPF WS 2013
- 2012: ISoLA 2012, JIMSE 2012
- 2011: EternalS 2011, Int. ISoLA WS on Machine Learning for Software Construction
- 2010: RERS Workshop at ISoLA 2010
In the News
- [January 2018] Article about STARS project at Fraunhofer ISST [Article on industrie.de]
- [February 2017] CACM article and title page on model learning by Frits Vaandrager mentions LearnLib and RaLib (CACM Vol. 60 No. 2, Pages 86-95) [Link to Article]
- [2016/12/28] Interview on the research of IPSSE in Braunschweiger Zeitung [Photo of the Article]
- [2016/07/06] The Prime Minister of Lower Saxony visited IPSSE on July 5th, 2016. [Article on tu-clausthal.de]