Xtext, Supply Chains, Mobile Ad-hoc Networks, and IT-Entrepreneurship

My third semester at the HPI has started!
This is a list of themes that will catch my attention during this semester:

• Protocol Compiler and Middleware
• Tracking of pharmaceutical products in supply chains
• Ad-hoc networks for embedded systems with AUTOSAR
• Linking in Xtext
• IT-Entrepreneurship

Protocol Compiler and Middleware

Together with Richard we will implement a middleware for The Wire Protocol in Java, and a protocol compiler. The protocol compiler will read a specification of a TWP protocol and generate code that implements the specified protocol on the basis of our middleware. The compiler will be built upon Xtext.


Tracking of pharmaceutical products in supply chains

This is my first research activity at the chair of Hasso Plattner, the founder of the HPI. I will investigate the efficient tracing of pharmaceuticals from production to the end-consumer. The goal of such a tracing is the verification of the authenticity of pharmaceuticals. So, if you are at the pharmacy, a pharmaceutical's way from the producer to your hands can be followed completely, and thus preventing you from taking pills produced in some of your neighbour's basement.
Actual tracing mechanisms are too slow and I hope to find a way to make them faster.
The exact title of my work is: "Algorithms and Data Structures for Data Capturing and Data Retrieval in the Context of EPC Discovery Services".


Mobile Ad-hoc networks for embedded systems with AUTOSAR

In the seminar Advanced Software Engineering for Embedded Systems I will develop an infrastructure for mobile ad-hoc networks for autonomous robots. The development will be based on AUTOSAR.


Linking in Xtext

The focus of my work for the seminar Software Design will be the linking-feature of Xtext. I will take a deep dive into the Xtext code to fully understand how the linker works. This should not be a big burden because I am already used to the (almost uncommented ;) )code written by Xtext developers since my google summer of code project in 2008. After arising from the depths of the Xtext code I will conduct some experiments and thrill the world with Xtext's capabilities :D.


IT-Entrepreneurship

Last but not least I will write a business plan with Daniel and Toni. The cool thing about this seminar is that we are taught by Rouven Westphal. Rouven is a ... at Hasso Plattner Ventures (HPV). HPV is a venture capital fund founded by - surpise :) - Hasso Plattner.
So, Rouven's every day business is judging business plans; opposed to last year's teacher Prof. Wagner who took a too heavy weight theoretical approach to entrepreneurship - Prof. Wagner basically had no entrpreneurial spirit.
Our first business idea is about increasing sales for food retailers. We think of a web platform that gives consumers access to retailers' shelfs in the digital world. Consumers create recipes that can be accessed by other consumers on their mobile devices in the store. The first effect is an increased shopping experience for customers: everything that is needed for a recipe is in one store - they do not have to go to a different store. And here comes the side door for retailers: if a retailer's stock is for instance full of salad that needs to be sold in one day and would be thrown away at the end of the day, the retailer places a special offer as a salad-recipe on the web-platform. This recipe will appear before any other recipe on customer's mobile devices when they enter the store. This has the effect that not only the salad is sold but also the other ingredients like cottage cheese, tomates, bread, and other stuff you need for a good salad.
But these days I am thinking more and more about the iPhone as a platform for (IT-)Entrepreneurs. So many fellows are talking about iPhone App development - I never heard so many it-people talking about ONE platform for a basis for (fast) revenue. It's like a gold rush! And if there is a gold rush, invest in gold picks and shovels! But more to that in a later post.