Objective
Current operating systems have poor reliability and security. Computers crash regularly whereas other electronic devices such as televisions and mobile phones never crash. Furthermore, practically every week one reads about another security hole in Windows. As computers become more essential for all aspects of society this situation is unacceptable. The goal of my proposed research is to conceive, design, implement, and test an operating system that is as reliable and secure as is humanly possible. The job will be finished when the average user has never experienced a crash in his lifetime and RESET buttons on computers have passed into history, like 5¼ -inch floppy disks. The basic concept I want to use to achieve a reliable, secure operating system is the POLA The Principle of Least Authority. The operating system will be moved out the kernel (where it has unrestricted access to all of memory, critical machine instructions the I/O devices) into a set of multiple, tightly constrained user processes. Each process (e.g. a file server) will be given exactly the authority it needs to do its job and no more. This mechanism ensures that problems in one process cannot spill over into other ones. While this goal has floated around for years, no one really knows how to do it, so research is needed. Furthermore, I also want to make the system fault tolerant and self healing so it can continue to run even in the presence of hardware and software errors. Recovery should be done automatically without affecting running programs. Designing and building a new operating system that runs counter to 50 years of experience is extremely ground-breaking and ambitious. But the current road we are on with millions of lines of code in the kernel and growing all the time cannot be sustained. We need research that will lead to much better reliability and security. I have 30 years experience in the field and think I have a chance to pull it off.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software software applications system software operating systems
- humanities history and archaeology history
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering information engineering telecommunications mobile phones
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
ERC-2008-AdG
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Host institution
1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.