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Fachbereich
DESIGN INFORMATIK MEDIEN

Herzlich Willkommen auf dem Campus 
Unter den Eichen in Wiesbaden!

Professor für Internet der Dinge

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kalman Graffi

E 441
Postanschrift Postfach 3251 65022 Wiesbaden
Besuchsadresse Unter den Eichen 5 65195 Wiesbaden

Vita

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kalman Graffi is Professor for Internet of Things in the Institute of Computer Science at the Faculty of Design, Computer Science and Media at the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden, the capital of the state Hesse in Germany. His research interests are in decentralized secure systems and communication networks. 

Previous to this, from 2023 to September 2025 he was Professor for Networks, Communication Systems and Cybersecurity at the Technical University of Applied Sciences in Bingen Germany. From 2019 to end of 2022, he was Principal Scientist and Competence Group Leader for Reliable Systems and Software at Honda Research Institute Europe GmbH. From 2012 to 2019, he was W1-Professor for  ``Technology of Social Networks''  in the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Duesseldorf in Germany. Before joining the University of Düsseldorf in 2012, he was senior researcher at the  "Theory of Distributed Systems" group at the University of Paderborn in the years 2011 to 2012. From 2006 to 2010, he was a PhD student at the Multimedia Communications Lab at TU Darmstadt, Germany. In 2010, he obtained his doctorate degree (Dr.-Ing.) from the faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Technische Universitaet Darmstadt with summa cum laude ("mit Auszeichnung"). Prof. Graffi received 2006 a diploma degree in Computer Science and a diploma degree in Mathematics from the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany. In this time, he also obtained the IT-Security Certificate by the Competence Center for Applied Security Technology (CAST) in Darmstadt.  

Lehre

Offene Abschlussarbeiten (Bachelor / Master)

1.  KI-unterstützte Schwarm Algorithmen

2. Algorithmen für Emergentes Schwarm-Verhalten unter Schwerkraft

3. Computational Discovery of Arab Personality Traits

4. Moderation von illegalem Content in LibreSocial: einem P2P-basierten sozialen Netzwerk

 

Lectures / Vorlesungen
 

Communication Networks - Rechnernetze 2SWS

  • Umfang: 2+2 Semesterwochenstunden
  • Inhalte: Grundstrukturen und Funktionen von Kommunikationssystemen kennen und auf bestehende Systeme anwenden. Schichtenmodelle anwenden und erarbeiten. Ethernet, Funknetzwerke und TCP/IP-Architektur verstehen. Einfache lokale Netzwerke und IP-Netze planen und in Betrieb nehmen können. IP-Konfiguration analysieren, in einfachen Umgebungen planen und in Betrieb nehmen können. Grundstruktur verteilter Anwendungen, Client-/Server-Prinzip kennen und auf vorhandene Anwendungen übertragen können. Grundkonzepte von Vermittlungssystemen insbesondere im Weitverkehrsbereich kennen Protokollverhalten in lokalen Netzen analysieren und bewerten
  • Jährlich im WiSe ab 2025 an der Hochschule RheinMain
  • Playlist mit Vorlesungsaufzeichnung: www.youtube.com/playlist

Communication Networks - Kommunikationsnetze (KONE) - 4SWS

  • Umfang: 4+2 Semesterwochenstunden
  • Inhalte: Grundstrukturen und Funktionen von Kommunikationssystemen kennen und auf bestehende Systeme anwenden. Schichtenmodelle anwenden und erarbeiten. Ethernet, Funknetzwerke und TCP/IP-Architektur verstehen. Einfache lokale Netzwerke und IP-Netze planen und in Betrieb nehmen können. IP-Konfiguration analysieren, in einfachen Umgebungen planen und in Betrieb nehmen können. Grundstruktur verteilter Anwendungen, Client-/Server-Prinzip kennen und auf vorhandene Anwendungen übertragen können. Grundkonzepte von Vermittlungssystemen insbesondere im Weitverkehrsbereich kennen Protokollverhalten in lokalen Netzen analysieren und bewerten
  • Jährlich im SoSe ab 2023 an der TH Bingen, WiSe 2015-2018 an HHU Düsseldorf
  • Playlist mit Vorlesungsaufzeichnung: www.youtube.com/playlist

Peer-to-Peer Systems (P2P)

  • Umfang: 2+2 Semesterwochenstunden
  • Inhalte:
    • 1. Decentralization, Overlay Networks, Characteristics of P2P Systems
      2. Unstructured P2P Overlays (Gnutella, edonkey, Kazaa, BubbleStorm)
      3. Distributed Indexing and Distributed Hash Tables
      4. Structured P2P Overlays (Chord, CAN, Pastry, Kademlia)
      5. Interconnection Overlay Networks (Hypercube, De Bruijn Network)
      6. Location-based, Heterogeneous Structured P2P Overlays
      7. Improvements of P2P Overlays, Scale Free Networks
      8. Security Issues in P2P Systems, BitTorrent
      9. P2P Streaming, P2P Storage Fundamentals
      10. P2P Storage Systems (CFS, Ivy),
      11. Monitoring P2P Systems (Sampling, Gossiping, Tree-based)
      12. Control Loops in P2P Systems, Monitoring Peer-specific Information
      13. P2P-based Social Networks (Safebook, P2PSocial)
  • Jährlich im SoSe 2012-2017 an der HHU Düsseldorf, WiSe 2011-2014 an Uni Paderborn
  • Playlist mit Vorlesungsaufzeichnung: www.youtube.com/playlist

Mobilkommunikation (MOKO)

  • Umfang: 4+2 Semesterwochenstunden
  • Inhalte:
    • Organisation, Technische Grundlagen, Medienzugriff, Satellitensysteme, Broadcasting Systeme, Bluetooth, Drahtlose LANs (+ Ad Hoc Netzwerke)
    • History of Mobile Communication and Standardization, System and Radio Access Network Architecture, Radio Interface and Application Protocols, Physical Layer of UMTS and LTE (R99/HSPA), Fundamental Radio Resource Management, Radio Resource Management – MAC Scheduling, Mobility, QoS, and Charging, Current and Future Trends: HSPA+, LTE-A and 5G
  • SoSe 2025 und jährlich im WiSe 2013-2015 an HHU Düsseldorf
  • Playlist mit Vorlesungsaufzeichnung: www.youtube.com/playlist

Network Security (NETS)

  • Umfang: 2+2 Semesterwochenstunden
  • Inhalte:
    • Attacks and security measures for different network layers, including firewall, virtual private networks and intrusion detection systems
    • Stack and heap overflows, format string vulnerabilities, integer overflows, etc.
    • Malware: viruses, worms, Trojans and botnets.
    • Security measures for authentication, anonymity and trust
    • Introduction to security development lifecycle: CPE/CVE/CWE, threat modeling, fuzzing
    • Confidential computing: differential privacy, (fully) homomorphic encryption, secure multiparty computation, trusted execution environments.
    • Decentralized systems: Blockchain, peer-to-peer networks, opportunistic networks.
  • Jährlich im SoSe ab 2023 an der TH Bingen, SoSe 2014 an HHU Düsseldorf
  • Playlist mit Vorlesungsaufzeichnung: www.youtube.com/playlist

IT Sicherheit (ITSEC)

  • Umfang: 4+2 Semesterwochenstunden
  • Inhalte:
    • Einführung und Begriffe: Einsatzszenarien, Begriffe, Sicherheitsdienste
    • Physikalische Sicherheit und Social Engineering
    • Kryptographische Verfahren I: Steganographie, symmetrische Verfahren
    • Kryptographische Verfahren II: Asymmetrische Verfahren, Perfect Forward Secrecy
    • Kryptographische Verfahren III: Elliptische Kurven, PKI, Hashing, Schlüsselmanagement, SSL/TLS
    • Authentifikationsverfahren und Passwortsicherheit: Identifikationsmerkmale, Online Banking, Passwortverwaltung, Zugriffskontrollmodelle, Kerberos
    • Internet Sicherheit: Protokolle, Dienste, Web-Anwendungen
    • Spezielle Bedrohungen: Buffer Overflow, Viren, Würmer, Bot-Netze, Spam
    • Security Engineering und Secure Software Engineering: Konstruktionsprinzipien, Sicherheitsarchitektur/-modell, Bedrohungen
    • Rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen und Sicherheit in Unternehmen
    • Sicherheit in Verteilten Systemen: Blockchain, sichere dezentrale soziale Netzwerke
  • Jährlich ab WiSe 2023 an der TH Bingen
  • Playlist mit Vorlesungsaufzeichnung: www.youtube.com/playlist

Rechnerarchitektur und technische Grundlagen der Informatik (REAR)

  • Umfang: 4+2 Semesterwochenstunden
  • Inhalte:
    • 1. Begriffe, 2. Digitale Schaltungen, 3. Von Neumann Rechner
    • 4. Abwickler, 5. Anweisungen und Operatoren, 6. Steuerkreis, 6a. ARM Mikroarchitektur, 6b. MC68000 Architektur, 7. RISC Pipeline, 8. Superskalarität, 8*. Interrupts / Unterbrechungen, 9. Rechnerstrukturen, 10. Rechnerleistung
    • 11. Bussysteme, 12. Serielle Kommunikation
    • 13. Memory Map, 14. Speicher, 15. Speichermodule, 16. Cache Strukturen,17. Speichermedien, 18. Speicherverwaltung
    • 19. Multithreading, 20. Multiprozessoren
    • 21. Virtualisierung – Maschinen, 22. Virtualisierung – System, Speicher, verteilte Systeme
  • Jährlich ab WiSe 2023 an der TH Bingen
  • Playlist mit Vorlesungsaufzeichnung: www.youtube.com/playlist

Annual project groups (at University of Paderborn)

SS/WS 13/12Project group “A Peer-to-Peer Framework for Social Networks”, University of Paderborn
2+2+2 SWSProject aims at researching, implementing and evaluating useful algorithms and mechanisms using the p2p paradigm to create a toolbox for p2p applications.
Tasks: project management, organization of lectures and seminars, supervision
  
SS/WS 11Project group “A Distributed Framework for Social Networks”, University of Paderborn
2+2+2 SWSLong term project aiming at engineering a general p2p framework for a wide set of applications, and social networks in specific.
Tasks: project management, organization of lectures and seminars, supervision
  

Seminars and lab exercises at various Universities (Darmstadt, Paderborn, Düsseldorf)

SS13Seminar “Essential Elements for a Peer-to-Peer Framework for Social Networks”, correlated with the project group “A Peer-to-Peer Framework for Social Networks”
 Topics: decentralized social networks, big data in p2p networks, performance and security issues in p2p monitoring mechanisms, p2p network address translation, streaming social content in p2p networks
  
SS12Seminar “Security in Peer-to-Peer Systems”
 Topics: Attacks on routing and storage in p2p networks, surveys and simulations
  
SS12Seminar “Essential Elements for a Peer-to-Peer Framework for Social Networks”, correlated with the project group “A Peer-to-Peer Framework for Social Networks”
 Topics: decentralized social networks, graphical representation of social networks, performance and security issues in p2p overlays, mechanisms on p2p networking and storage, evaluation methodology for large scale networked systems
  
WS11Seminar “Peer-to-Peer Systems”
 Topics: P2P improvements, simulation and benchmarking, p2p overlays
  
SS11Seminar “Essential Elements for a Distributed Framework for Social Networks”, correlated with the project group “A Distributed Framework for Social Networks”
 Topics: P2P platforms, distributed data storage and replication, p2p service repositories, requirements analysis for distributed social networks
  
SS10Seminar “P2P and Benchmarking”
 Topics: P2P self-aware networks, commercial aspects, monitoring and management
Limited responsibility: topic conception, student supervision, project management
  
WS08/07/06Seminar “Advanced Topics of Future Internet Research”
 Topics: modeling of p2p systems, QoS-awareness in p2p systems, monitoring mechanisms in p2p and distributed systems
Limited responsibility: topic conception, student supervision, grading
  
SS09/08/07Project seminar “Advanced Topics in Distributed Systems”
 Topics: implementation and evaluation of p2p mechanisms in a p2p simulator.
Limited responsibility: topic conception, student supervision, project management
  
WS09/08Bachelor lab exercise “Advanced Topics in Distributed Systems”
 Topic: implementation of a GUI for a p2p-based online social network.
Limited responsibility: topic conception, student supervision, project management
  
SS10, WS09/08Master lab exercise “Advanced Topics in Distributed Systems”
 Topic: collaboration and management tools for a p2p online social network.
Limited responsibility: topic conception, student supervision, project management

Forschung und Projekte

He has acquired several projects sponsored by the industry, the German Research Society ("Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)", the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. In 2016 to 2019 he conducted several projects for the German Federal Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF) via the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA). The projects cover topics such as "Sup-Press: Freedom of Speech under Attack in the EU and Arab World", "Egyptian-German Partnership on Practical Evaluation of Networked Nano-scale Devices", "Academic Matchmaking: Supporting a South-Norh Scolarship Cooperation", "Distant Teaching with Telepresence Robots", "Make a difference: Ideen aus aller Welt", as well as "Twinning for Innovation". In 2014 to 2018 he received funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for his projects on "Decentralized Monitoring of large-scale Overlay Networks (OverlayMeter)" and "Setup and Routing in Opportunistic Networks with unrooted Android Smartphones using WiFi and Bluetooth". At the same time, he was part of the NRW Fortschrittskolleg on "Online Participation". In 2015 to 2016 together with Powerfolder (dal33t GmbH) his project on "P2P-based Data Synchronization between mobile Devices in local Networks" was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). Finally, in 2014 to 2016 his project on "Convergence of Hierarchical Overlay Networks (OverConverge)" was funded by the Strategic Research Fund of the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf.

Findings from his research has been published in more than 90 refereed scholarly publications, including publications in high-tier journals like Elsevier Computer Communications, Springer Peer-to-Peer Networking and and Applications, as well as, Wiley Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing. With over 200 supervised student theses and a lectures given on Communication Networks, Network Security, Mobile Communications, Peer-to-Peer Systems and Opportunitic Networking, findings from his research has been passed on to the next generation of researchers.

 

In his position he researches and teaches protocols and mechanisms for complex, secure and self-managing communication and compute networks with different methodologies to implement this vision. His research focus is on building reliable, secure and highly scalable computing environments through dynamic overlay networks, mobile opportunistic networks, multi-agent systems and argumentation networks, in which autonomous, unreliable and heterogeneous actors want to offer a common, reliable and quality-controlled service. His concepts can be applied in global-scale computer networks, in wide-area wireless mesh or opportunistic networks as well as for large-scale nano or robot swarms

 

 

Gremien und Mitgliedschaften

He received several awards for his work on secure and decentralized communication platforms and their impact on society. In March 2015 he was awarded the title ``Young Scientist of the Year 2014'' (Nachwuchswissenschaftler des Jahres 2014) by Academics.de. In 2014, he was elected as member in the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA), and in 2015 he was appointed as ``Junior Fellow'' of the Gesellschaft fuer Informatik, both for 5 years. In 2016 he was elected as member of the Young Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz and of the Young Forum: Technical Sciences (JF:Tec) both for 4 years. He is founding member of the ``Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy''. Being in dialogue with political activists in the Arab word and outside, allows him to learn the requirements for secure decentralized communication platforms from first hand and to test his solutions in places where they are needed.