Software for Real-World Systems (SRS)

Software is a critical element in a broad range of real-world systems ranging from micro- and nano-scale embedded devices in highways, household appliances, and medical devices to continental- and global-scale critical infrastructures, such as communications and electrical power grids and transportation, health care, and enterprise systems. While software’s role in governing overall system behavior can ultimately determine success or failure, the science and engineering of designing and building software for real-world systems remain elusive and poorly understood.

The Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) is calling for researchers to discover, define, and apply new scientific principles, engineering processes and methods, and educational pedagogy to the design, development, and use of software for real-world systems. The Software for Real-World Systems (SRS) Program specifically intends to bridge and transcend CISE disciplines by encouraging collaborations that might include any of the sub-disciplines of computer and information science and engineering (e.g., a new logic for reasoning about software systems complexity) to answer the question: How can software for real-world systems be designed, built, and analyzed in elegant and powerful new ways?  Collaborative activities that include researchers from both the foundations of software (including for example, programming languages, formal methods, and software engineering) community and the computer and network systems community are encouraged.

Bold rethinking of the science and engineering of software for real-world systems – from the basic concepts of design, evolution, and adaptation to the integration of human capabilities – is needed.  Emerging technologies, such as multicore processors and pervasive computing, heighten the urgency for new thinking as we build software for future systems.  SRS is looking for multi-investigator teams or single investigators who will integrate diverse ideas and novel approaches in the design, development, and use of software for real-world systems.