DESIRE project to help design the next generation of smart high tech systems
11 June 2026
Complex machines as distributed cyber physical systems
Many modern high‑tech machines – such as chip‑making equipment, medical X‑ray systems, industrial printers, radar systems and automated logistics in warehouses and airports – are examples of distributed cyber‑physical systems. In these systems, networks of computers (the “cyber” part) continuously interact with physical components like sensors, actuators and moving mechanical parts (the “physical” part). As these machines become more powerful and software‑intensive, it is increasingly difficult for engineers to oversee all design options and understand how choices affect performance, reliability and cost.
Exploring the design space before systems are built
DESIRE addresses this challenge by developing new methods and software tools for design-space exploration: the systematic, partly automated exploration of many alternative system designs before they are built. Instead of manually constructing detailed models, DESIRE aims to automatically derive models of the software workload, the hardware platform and system performance from measurement data. These models will make it possible to ask “what‑if” questions such as: What if we change the hardware architecture? What if we parallelise the software differently? How does a different interaction with the physical environment affect throughput or energy use?
A holistic approach to system design
The project introduces a holistic and scalable design approach that considers four key dimensions at once: how software is structured and parallelised, which hardware resources are used, how software is mapped onto hardware, and how the system interacts with its physical environment.
Impact on industry and society
By improving insight into these trade‑offs, DESIRE aims to increase engineering productivity, reduce development costs and enable more innovative, socially relevant systems in sectors such as semiconductors, healthcare and logistics.
The Desire project forms part of a programme of related projects between the University of Amsterdam (UvA), ASML and TNO-ESI, which collectively addresses the challenges involved in designing complex cyber-physical systems.Andy Pimentel, Professor of Computer Science in the Parallel Computing Systems group
Collaboration with high tech industry
The research will be driven by industrial case studies from ASML, ensuring that the methods are grounded in realistic, large‑scale high‑tech systems. TNO‑ESI will help mature and transfer the results to the wider high‑tech equipment industry.