Welcome to the Chair of Applied Electronics and Functional Safety
The Chair of Applied Electronics and Functional Safety (AEFS) is commited to advancing research, development, and practical implementation of electronic systems that must meet the highest standards of reliability, safety, and system lifetime under demanding conditions.
The focus is on the physical principles of electrical engineering, the model-based design of analog and digital circuits, the reliability and lifetime prediction of electronic assemblies, and the systematic implementation of functional safety in compliance with international standards (e.g., ISO 26262, IEC 61508, IEC 62304).
Our research focuses on safety-relevant and robust systems used in critical application domains, including.
Automotive industry (e.g. control units, driver assistance systems)
Medical technology (e.g. implants, imaging systems)
Aerospace (e.g. flight control, avionics)
Railway systems (e.g. signaling, passenger information systems)
Energy and utility infrastructures (e.g. smart grids, battery storage systems)
Connected IoT and edge computing platforms
In all of these domains, electronic systems must operate reliably and safely – under extreme environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, shock, vibration), over extended service lifetimes, and in full regulatory compliance. Developing safe and durable electronics is therefore not only a technical challenge, but also a socially relevant and economically significant responsibility.
The AEFS chair stands for a close integration of theory, practice-oriented teaching, experimental analysis, and industrial application. Students benefit from a systematic structure that combines solid engineering fundamentals with state-of-the-art methodologies and hands-on application in safety-critical contexts.
Teaching focuses on key topics from electrical engineering, electronics, reliability engineering, and functional safety. These are conveyed through lectures, laboratory exercises, simulation projects, and industry-oriented case studies. The goal is to prepare future engineers to develop electronic systems, implement systematic safety measures, and validate them in compliance with applicable standards.
The Chair of Applied Electronics and Functional Safety (AEFS) sees itself as a bridge between scientific excellence and practical relevance – contributing to a sustainable, safe, and reliable technological future.
Our research delivers application-driven insights into key challenges:
This includes physics-based prediction models, statistical failure models, and software-assisted forecasting methods based on field data or structural system analyses.
This can be achieved through the targeted use of self-test procedures, watchdog mechanisms, redundancy concepts, and fault isolation techniques at both the component and system level.
… for demonstrating compliance with related safety standards?
Relevant international safety standards such as ISO 26262 (automotive), IEC 61508 (general functional safety), IEC 62304 (medical technology), and other derived standards are taken into account. Structured verification methods are applied, including safety cases, FMEDA (Failure Modes, Effects and Diagnostic Analysis), FTA (Fault Tree Analysis), STPA (System-Theoretic Process Analysis), as well as quantitative assessments through SIL/ASIL calculations and coverage analyses.
This involves the integration of concrete failure rates, diagnostic coverage (DC), beta factors for redundant structures, as well as SPFM and LFM values into functional safety architectures, where they are quantitatively verified through formal analysis.
Methods such as reliability growth models (for analyzing time-dependent fault accumulation), static and dynamic code analysis, and structured test procedures can be used to ensure the robustness of model-based software components.
Both black-box testing and mutation testing can be applied, complemented by coverage measurements (e.g., according to MC/DC criteria) and tool qualification in accordance with ISO 26262-8.
Head of Chair
Prof. Dr. -Ing. Abderrahim Krini
OWL University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Computer Science and Automation
Chair of Applied Electronics and Functional Safety
Campusallee 12 | 32657 Lemgo | Building 1 | Room 1.514
Phone: +49(0) 5261 702 5658
E-Mail: Abderrahim.Krini(at)th-owl.de