Unisinos

Overview

CAPES recommended the Graduate Program in Applied Computing (connected to the Polytechnic School, UNISINOS) in May 2000. In August 2020, therefore, it completed 20 years. It presents Modeling and Simulation as an area of concentration. First, we created the Academic Master's course in 1997 at the former Center for Exact and Technological Sciences. It was born from an Interdisciplinary Research Group, composed of four PhDs in mathematics and Computer Science, which identified themes of common interest among their specific areas of knowledge. At the end of the same year, this group was registered in the Research Groups Directory at CNPq Brazil. This fact was the starting point for the beginning of several projects and the seed for the creation of a Graduate Program. It was observed that research projects gradually suffered a reorientation, becoming of an applied character, and privileging the integration between the knowledge areas involved, including also companies, and society's demands.

The Graduate Program (PPGCA, in Portuguese) today is consolidated, as we can see throughout this webpage. As said, it was recommended by CAPES in May 2000, having, in its first evaluation (triennium 2001 - 2003) note 3. In the review of the 2004-2006 triennium, the Program was promoted to concept 4. In 2015, he started the Academic Doctorate (PhD.) in Applied Computing, which was approved in June 2015 by CAPES and had the first selection of students for the second semester of the same year. The PPGCA presents the characteristics of a consolidated and mature Program, with quality in students' training, with quality of dissertations and theses, and bibliographic and technical production qualified. It is also consistently integrated with the productive sector through the relationship with Tecnosinos Technological Park and with companies through applied projects. It also works towards social insertion through projects with regional and national impact, in partnership with different institutions. Also, at the end of 2019, we can notice the following aspects: (i) faculty with maturity and national and international representation; (ii) the faculty and students present qualified intellectual production; (iii) there are several cooperation initiatives in projects of national and international inter-institutional research; (iv) the Program has social impact initiatives, located mainly in the areas of education, industry, and health.

The Research Lines were being outlined based on a collaboration process between researchers in ordinary thematic nuclei, through research projects under development. This process valued the research potential, the scientific trajectory of the researchers, and their experience accumulated so far, together with the broader assessment of the potential positive impact of this development with society. Currently, the group of professors consists of 12 permanent doctors (active), with more than 35 projects of research distributed within the area of concentration in Modeling and Simulation. Today we have four research lines: Artificial Intelligence; Internet of Things and Applications Distributed; Computer Graphics and Image Processing; Software Engineering and Intelligent Environments.

The Computer Graphics and Image Processing line investigates problems related to synthesis and analysis of static and dynamic signals and images, including image processing and signals, rendering, computational geometry, and animation. The research line focuses on data visualization, virtual reality, and model building, with applications in medical, games, sociology, and robotics, among others. Currently, projects linked to a visualization of large volumes of data for applications in the petroleum area, visualization of dynamics Multiagent Systems, and model reconstruction in the medical field are developed in this research line. Professors Luiz Gonzaga da Silveira Junior and Maurício Veronez work in this line. Like this, it is worth highlighting the projects with the company Petrobrás. This company considers the PPGCA as a significant national hub in the area of oil and gas.

The Software Engineering and Intelligent Environments research line investigates methodologies, techniques, metrics, and technologies to create, maintain, and evaluate the software. The line prioritizes computational models, software architectures, software quality, frameworks, and software, mainly oriented towards the development of Intelligent Environments (AMI). Besides these themes, the research developed in the line of Software Engineering and Intelligent Environments applies mobile and ubiquitous computing, smart cities, service-oriented architectures, software engineering for the internet of things, big data analytics, multiagent systems, engineering ontologies, and machine learning. The research is focused on several application areas, such as health, education, accessibility, agriculture, commerce, logistics, computer games, virtual reality, corporate applications, industry 4.0, and project management. In this line, we have the professors Jorge Luis Victória Barbosa, Rafael Kunst, and Kleinner Silva Farias de Oliveira. Projects with DELL company are represented in this line of research.

The research direction of Artificial Intelligence develops applied intelligent systems that address both the techniques of Symbolic Artificial Intelligence and those of Computational Intelligence, involving the areas of Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Animated Pedagogical Agents, Affective Computing, Networks Artificial Neural, Data Mining, Natural Language Processing, and Transport Systems. The main projects in this area have collaboration with companies in the productive sector, especially the TECNOSINOS technological park, and also with partner universities, such as the UFCSPA, PPGIE / UFRGS, ICMC / USP, UFAL, UNIZAR / Spain, USJ / Argentina, Aix-en-Provence / France, LIG / France, VUB / Belgium, Évora / Portugal, FAU / Germany. Patrícia Maillard is part of this research line, in addition to Sandro José Rigo and Gabriel de Oliveira Ramos.

The Internet of Things and Distributed Applications research line investigates and develops algorithms, innovative middleware, and applications within the scope of the Internet of Things (or IoT). Here, we have aspects related to architecture, performance, load balancing, interoperability, mobility, scaling, and scalability. In this context, mobile devices, context science, wearables, and sensors are based on technologies like Bluetooth / BLE, NFC, RFID, ZigBee, and UWB. The professors Cristiano André da Costa, Cristiano Bonato Both, Rafael Kunst, Rodolfo Stoffel Antunes and Rodrigo da Rosa Righi work in this research line. Projects in this line include partnerships with Siemens, DELL and HT Micron.

Goals

The objectives of the Program are aligned with the strategic objectives of UNISINOS, which consider and reflect the needs and desires of society. Also, the objectives of the Program are aligned with the major guidelines of the CAPES Computing Area. The objetives are:

1 - Train highly qualified human resources, at master and doctoral level, to act in teaching, research and development;

2 - Develop teaching, research, innovation and extension activities, aiming at qualification, improvement and integration with undergraduate teaching, in the various formats and modalities.

3 - Develop professional and technical skills, encouraging the exchange of knowledge and technological innovation between the University and society.

Areas of Study

Software Engineering and Intelligent Environments
This research line investigates methodologies, techniques, metrics, and technologies to create, maintain and evaluate the software. The line prioritizes the study of computational models, software architectures, software quality, frameworks, and software processes, mainly oriented to the development of Intelligent Environments (AMI). In addition to these themes, the research carried out in the line of Software Engineering and Intelligent Environments applies mobile and ubiquitous computing, smart cities, service-oriented architectures, software engineering for the internet of things, big data, analytics, multi-agent systems, ontology engineering, and machine learning. The research is focused on several application areas, such as health, education, accessibility, agriculture, commerce, logistics, computer games, virtual reality, corporate applications, and project management.

Computer Graphics and Image Processing
It investigates the problems related to the synthesis and analysis of signals and static and dynamic images, including image and signal processing, rendering, computational geometry, and animation. The line focuses on data visualization, virtual reality, and model building, with applications in the medical, games, sociology, and robotics areas.

Internet of Things and Distributed Applications
Here, we have research and development of algorithms, middleware, and innovative applications within the scope of the Internet of Things (or IoT, of the Internet of Things term), including aspects related to architecture, performance, load balancing, interoperability, mobility, scaling, and scalability. In this context, the use of mobile devices, context science, wearables, and sensors, based on technologies such as Bluetooth / BLE, NFC, RFID, ZigBee, and UWB, stands out. There is a focus on using the characteristics of virtualization and elasticity of cloud computing and proposing models, ontologies, and heuristics to develop distributed, mobile and ubiquitous applications, seeking tangible benefits for society. Some of the main application areas include health, electronic commerce, logistics, transport, and energy, both directly in a target application and indirectly through middleware used to make IoT a reality.

Artificial intelligence
In this research line, we have intelligent systems that address both Symbolic Artificial Intelligence and Computational Intelligence techniques, involving Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Animated Pedagogical Agents, Affective Computing, Neural Networks, Data Mining, and Intelligent Transport Systems. We highlight the study and application of these systems to solve problems in the field of Informatics in Education, Transport, Electric Energy, Oil Companies, among others.

Faculty Back to menu

Head of Program

Rodrigo da Rosa Righi
Ph.D. in Computer Science.
Areas of Interest: Operates in the area of the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, and distributed environments such as cluster, cloud, and fog. It has also been working hard in 5G mobile communication areas, high-performance processing, scalability in microservices, and middleware distributed to the healthcare area.
Research Line: Internet of Things and Distributed Applications.
Contact: rrrighi@unisinos.br

Academic Staff

Cristiano André da Costa
Ph.D. in Computer Science.
Areas of Interest: Internet of Things, Distributed Systems, Computing Applied to Health, Medical Informatics, Industry 4.0, Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing, and Context Science.
Research Line: Internet of Things and Distributed Applications.
Contact: cac@unisinos.br

Cristiano Bonato Both
Ph.D. in Computer Science.
Areas of Interest: Operates in the area of Telecommunications and Computer Networks with an emphasis on Software Defined Networks (SDN), Virtualization of Network Functions (NFV), Internet of Things (IoT), and 5G technologies.
Research Line: Internet of Things and Distributed Applications.
Contact: cbboth@unisinos.br

Gabriel de Oliveira Ramos
Ph.D. in Computer Science.
Areas of Interest: Artificial Intelligence with emphasis on Reinforcement Learning, Deep Learning, and Search Methods.
Research Line: Artificial Intelligence.
Contact: gdoramos@unisinos.br

Jorge Luis Victoria Barbosa
Ph.D. in Computer Science.
Areas of Interest: Operates in the areas of Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing, Internet of Things, Bigdata, Embedded Systems, Robotics, Smart Environments, Smart Cities, Smart Vehicles, Similarity Analysis and Patterns in Historical Contexts, Accessibility Applications, Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Industry 4.0, Logistics and Health.
Research Line: Software Engineering and Intelligent Environments.
Contact: jbarbosa@unisinos.br

Kleinner Silva Farias de Oliveira
Ph.D. in Informatics.
Areas of Interest: Works in the area of Software Engineering, with an emphasis on software architecture, software modeling, empirical studies, model-driven software development, and neuroscience applied to software engineering. We have an interest in applications in Neuroscience, Agriculture, and Industry 4.0.
Research Line: Software Engineering and Intelligent Environments.
Contact: kleinnerfarias@unisinos.br

Luiz Gonzaga da Silveira Junior
Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, with an emphasis on Computer Engineering.
Areas of Interest: Operates in the areas of computer visualization, graphic architectures for high-performance computing, real-time rendering, and computer graphics in embedded systems.
Research Line: Computer Graphics and Image Processing.
Contact: lgonzaga@unisinos.br

Maurício Roberto Veronez
Doctor in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on Geoinformatics.
Areas of Interest: Operates in the area of Geoinformatics focused on: Collection, processing, and generation of 3D georeferenced and realistic models from embedded remote sensors; Artificial Intelligence for pattern recognition; Immersive Virtual Reality and Interactive 3D Visualization for modeling and simulation purposes.
Research Line: Computer Graphics and Image Processing.
Contact: veronez@unisinos.br

Patrícia Augustin Jaques Maillard
Ph.D. in Computer Science.
Areas of Interest: Operates in the area of Artificial Intelligence with application in education. His main research themes are: affective computing, animated pedagogical agents, and intelligent tutoring systems.
Research Line: Artificial Intelligence.
Contact: pjaques@unisinos.br

Rafael Kunst
Ph.D. in Computer Science.
Areas of Interest: Operates in the area of computer networks, emphasizing the use of artificial intelligence techniques to provide quality of service in wireless networks. He is also interested in telecommunications and military networks, focusing on UAVs and the Internet of Battle Things. Also, it works with several Internet of Things applications, such as Industry 4.0 and healthcare applications.
Research Line: Software Engineering and Intelligent Environments / Internet of Things and Distributed Applications
Contact: rafaelkunst@unisinos.br

Rodolfo Stoffel Antunes
Ph.D. in Computer Science.
Areas of Interest: Operates in the areas of Computer Networks and Distributed Systems, with an emphasis on the Internet of Things, Content Oriented Networks, and Evaluation of Network Architectures.
Research Line: Internet of Things and Distributed Applications.
Contact: santunes@unisinos.br

Sandro José Rigo
Ph.D. in Computer Science.
Areas of Interest: Operates in the areas of Computer Science, with emphasis on the areas of Computer Graphics, IHC, Web Development, Semantic Web, and Distance Education.
Research Line: Artificial Intelligence.
Contact: rigo@unisinos.br

Curricular Structure: Master and PhD Back to menu

Master's Degree

Compulsory Core Disciplines (6 credits)
- Modeling and Simulation
- Algorithm Analysis
- Mathematical Methods I
- Probability and Statistical Inference
- Programming Technician

Elective Courses (15 credits)
- Industrial automation
- Computer Graphics I
- Computer Graphics II
- Software Development Oriented to Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing
- Software Engineering
- Agent-Oriented Software Engineering Software Engineering
- Intelligent Systems Artificial Intelligence Applied to Education
- Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Internet of Things and Systems
- Distributed Applications Formal Methods for Software Engineering
- Mathematical Methods II
- Operational Research
- High Performance Processing and Applications
- Digital Signal Processing
- Data Prospecting and Knowledge Extraction
- Intelligent Adaptive Systems
- Complex Systems
- Dynamic Systems
- Distributed systems
- Advanced Topics in Distributed Systems Special Topics in Applied Computing I
- Special Topics in Applied Computing II
- Special Topics in Applied Computing III
- Special Topics in Applied Computing IV
- Individual Work I
- Individual Work II

Doctoral Degree

Compulsory Core Disciplines (6 credits)
- Modeling and Simulation
- Algorithms Analysis
- Mathematical Methods I
- Probability and Statistical Inference
- Programming Technician

Elective Courses (24 credits)
- Industrial automation
- Computer Graphics I
- Computer Graphics II
- Software Development Oriented to Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing
- Software Engineering
- Agent-Oriented Software Engineering Software Engineering
- Intelligent Systems Artificial Intelligence Applied to Education
- Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Internet of Things and Systems
- Distributed Applications Formal Methods for Software Engineering
- Mathematical Methods II
- Operational Research
- High Performance Processing and Applications
- Digital Signal Processing
- Data Prospecting and Knowledge Extraction
- Intelligent Adaptive Systems
- Complex Systems
- Dynamic Systems
- Distributed systems
- Advanced Topics in Distributed Systems Special Topics in Applied Computing I
- Special Topics in Applied Computing II
- Special Topics in Applied Computing III
- Special Topics in Applied Computing IV
- Individual Work I

Contact Back to menu

If you have any doubt, please, do not hesitate to contact us.
E-mail: ppca@unisinos.br@unisinos.br
Phone: +55 (51) 3590 1122 / 1601