Research Interests
- Formal methods and software verification
- Cyber-physical systems
- OSGi-based modular IoT architectures
- FPGA-cloud-edge integration
- DevOps/MLOps pipelines for continuous verification
- AI-assisted software engineering
Projects
TRISTAN (12/2022 – Present)
Role: Project Lead for work packages – Integration and evaluation of RISC-V edge computing with cloud for the automotive domain, aicas GmbH Together for RISC-V Technology and ApplicatioNs (Horizon Europe Project). A collaborative project with 44 universities and consortium partners to expand and develop RISC-V architecture. Focus on seamless integration of edge computing solutions with cloud infrastructure for safety-critical automotive applications.
EU Contribution: € 15,430,543.81 → Project Website
Role: Project Lead for work packages – Integration and evaluation of RISC-V edge computing with cloud for the automotive domain, aicas GmbH Together for RISC-V Technology and ApplicatioNs (Horizon Europe Project). A collaborative project with 44 universities and consortium partners to expand and develop RISC-V architecture. Focus on seamless integration of edge computing solutions with cloud infrastructure for safety-critical automotive applications.
EU Contribution: € 15,430,543.81 → Project Website
COSMOS (01/2021 – 03/2024)
Role: Project Lead for work packages – Development and integration of DevOps technologies for automotive software development pipeline with X-in-the-Loop simulation, aicas GmbH DevOps for Complex Cyber-physical Systems (Horizon Europe Project). A collaborative project with 12 universities to develop modern DevOps solutions for CPS. Focus on continuous integration and deployment pipelines with Model-in-the-Loop (MIL), Software-in-the-Loop (SIL), Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), and Vehicle-in-the-Loop (VIL) testing for the automotive industry.
EU Contribution: € 4,998,571.25 → Project Website
Role: Project Lead for work packages – Development and integration of DevOps technologies for automotive software development pipeline with X-in-the-Loop simulation, aicas GmbH DevOps for Complex Cyber-physical Systems (Horizon Europe Project). A collaborative project with 12 universities to develop modern DevOps solutions for CPS. Focus on continuous integration and deployment pipelines with Model-in-the-Loop (MIL), Software-in-the-Loop (SIL), Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), and Vehicle-in-the-Loop (VIL) testing for the automotive industry.
EU Contribution: € 4,998,571.25 → Project Website
EMC2 (10/2016 – 06/2017)
Role: Research and Development Engineer, aicas GmbH Embedded Multi-Core Systems for Mixed Criticality Applications (Horizon Europe Project). Large-scale project involving 102 organizations to develop multi-core platforms for safety-critical embedded systems.
EU Contribution: € 15,588,761.02 → Project Website
Role: Research and Development Engineer, aicas GmbH Embedded Multi-Core Systems for Mixed Criticality Applications (Horizon Europe Project). Large-scale project involving 102 organizations to develop multi-core platforms for safety-critical embedded systems.
EU Contribution: € 15,588,761.02 → Project Website
RS3 (01/2016 – 07/2018)
Role: Software Engineer at aicas GmbH, meanwhile work on Ph.D. thesis at KIT Reliably Secure Software Systems (DFG Project). Development of semantic-based certification and analysis tools for safety-critical software systems. → Project Website
Role: Software Engineer at aicas GmbH, meanwhile work on Ph.D. thesis at KIT Reliably Secure Software Systems (DFG Project). Development of semantic-based certification and analysis tools for safety-critical software systems. → Project Website
Reliable Software Evolution (01/2013
– 06/2015)
Role: PhD Student, KIT German Israeli Foundation Project. Development of formal methods to ensure the reliability of evolving software systems using verification techniques. → Project Website
Role: PhD Student, KIT German Israeli Foundation Project. Development of formal methods to ensure the reliability of evolving software systems using verification techniques. → Project Website
Analysis of Data Structure Properties in Large Programs (01/2011 – 12/2014)
Role: PhD Student, KIT DFG Project. Advanced static program analysis for large and complex programs using SMT solvers to verify complex data structures. → Project Website
Role: PhD Student, KIT DFG Project. Advanced static program analysis for large and complex programs using SMT solvers to verify complex data structures. → Project Website
Experience
-
08/2025 – Present:
Postdoc, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
Project CoNVIDe, Work Package C03: Consistency-Enabled Incremental Quality Analysis of CPS [SFB 1608] - 08/2016 – Present: Project Lead and Senior Software Engineer, aicas GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany
- 02/2011 – 07/2018: Research Associate (Ph.D. Student), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
- 09/2010 – 02/2011: Research Assistant, TU Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
- 05/2009 – 03/2010: IBM Research & Development, Böblingen, Germany
Publications
2026
- Tianhai Liu, Jame J. Hunt, Holger Blasum, and Darshak Sheladiya: Bringing Cloud-Connected Automotive Workloads to RISC-V: A CVA6-Based FPGA Case Study. Accepted at RISC-V Summit Europe 2026, Bologna, 8-12 June, 2026.
- Tianhai Liu and Jame J. Hunt: FPGA Lifecycle Management for RISC-V Systems. Accepted at RISC-V Summit Europe 2026, Bologna, 8-12 June, 2026.
- Tianhai Liu, Shmuel Tyszberowicz, Bernhard Beckert: Observable-Centric Consistency Checking of Requirements and Models. Accepted at the ENASE 2026 Conference, 2026
- Tianhai Liu, Shmuel Tyszberowicz, Bernhard Beckert: Analyses as First-Class Citizens in Model-Driven Development. FASE 2026, LNCS, vol 16504, pp 180–201. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-22774-4_10
2023
- Christian Birchler, Cyrill Rohrbach, Hyeongkyun Kim, Alessio Gambi, Tianhai Liu, Jens Horneber, Timo Kehrer, Sebastiano Panichella: TEASER: Simulation-Based CAN Bus Regression Testing for Self-Driving Cars Software. ASE 2023: 2058-2061.
- Christian Birchler, Cyrill Rohrbach, Hyeongkyun Kim, Alessio Gambi, Tianhai Liu, Jens Horneber, Timo Kehrer, Sebastiano Panichella: TEASER: Simulation-based CAN Bus Regression Testing for Self-driving Cars Software. CoRR abs/2307.03279 (2023).
2018
- Tianhai Liu: Efficient Verification of Programs with Complex Data Structures Using SMT Solvers. PhD Thesis, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 2018.
2017
- Tianhai Liu, Shmuel S. Tyszberowicz, Bernhard Beckert, Mana Taghdiri: Computing Exact Loop Bounds for Bounded Program Verification. SETTA 2017: 147-163.
2016
- Tianhai Liu, Shmuel S. Tyszberowicz, Mihai Herda, Bernhard Beckert, Daniel Grahl, Mana Taghdiri: Computing Specification-Sensitive Abstractions for Program Verification. SETTA 2016: 101-117.
2014
- Daniel Grunwald, Christoph Gladisch, Tianhai Liu, Mana Taghdiri, Shmuel S. Tyszberowicz: Generating JML Specifications from Alloy Expressions. Haifa Verification Conference 2014: 99-115.
- Tianhai Liu, Mateus Araújo, Marcelo d'Amorim, Mana Taghdiri: A Comparative Study of Incremental Constraint Solving Approaches in Symbolic Execution. Haifa Verification Conference 2014: 284-299.
2012
- Tianhai Liu, Michael Nagel, Mana Taghdiri: Bounded Program Verification Using an SMT Solver: A Case Study. ICST 2012: 101-110.
Education
- 02/2011 – 07/2018: Dr. rer. nat. (Ph.D.), Computer Science, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
- 10/2006 – 04/2010: Master of Computer Science, Department of Computer Science, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
- 09/2002 – 07/2006: Bachelor of Computer Science, Department of Computer Science and Technology, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
Student Opportunities & Theses
I am currently supervising Master/Bachelor theses, working students, and interns both at KIT and in industry (aicas GmbH). If you are interested in any of the topics listed below or have your own ideas related to my research interests, please feel free to contact me.
Professional Memberships
- since 05/2022: Member, Association of Chinese Computer Scientists in Germany (GCI) [GCI]
- since 11/2012: Member, Association of Chinese Mathematicians and Applied Mathematicians in Germany (GCMA) [GCMA]