On 19 September 2022, the Doctoral College for Resilient Embedded Systems was proud to present its first Ph.D. graduate Dominik Widhalm, who completed his degree with the highest distinction.

TU Wien Informatics and UAS Technikum Wien launched the joint doctoral college in 2018, aiming to implement high-quality doctoral training trans-institutionally and to conduct collaborative research with resources from both universities. Research results of the international program are available to business and industry and thus create a direct technology transfer for Industry 4.0 and areas such as autonomous driving, traffic control systems, and the digitization of critical infrastructures.

First graduate with flying colors

The joint program attracts top talents, setting challenging standards for students in the selection process and their scientific work. Dominik Widhalm has been part of the DC Resilient Embedded Systems since its launch in 2018. “Thanks to the cooperation between UAS Technikum Wien and TU Wien Informatics, I was able to discuss my research with experts from both institutions, gaining valuable feedback from different angles. Technical equipment was available to me in both facilities, which was crucial for practical experiments and setups,” Widhalm explains.

Dominik Widhalm’s thesis, “Sensor Node Fault Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks: An Immune-inspired Approach”, deals with node faults in sensor networks and how to detect them. It was supervised by Karl M. Göschka (UAS Technikum Wien) & Wolfgang Kastner (TU Wien Informatics) and reviewed by Andrea Bondavalli (University of Florence) & Davide Quaglia (University of Verona).

Sensor networks are an essential source of data used for a plethora of data services. They are used to measure water or air quality, detect dangerous situations like wildfires, or discover defects in buildings or bridges. But what if the sensor network itself is flawed? Dominik Widhalm’s thesis presents a new approach to detecting and handling these flaws. He looked at the most crucial part of these networks: the sensor nodes. Sensor nodes are devices within a network that gather and process information and communicate data to other connected devices. Within most fault detection approaches, these sensor nodes are considered ‘black boxes’, neglecting vital information available on the node level. That is why Dominik Widhalm suggests a fault detection approach that integrates node-level diagnostics with the characteristics of the sensor data. His method took inspiration from the human body, specifically from the functioning of dendritic cells in the human immune system. These cells are usually found in tissues, such as the skin, and instruct our immune responses by processing and communicating information to other cells, efficiently detecting threats to our health.