Beschreibung
by Prof. Bernd Ulmann, Dr. Lucas Wetzel
As we push the boundaries of the Tactile Internet and of communication systems in general, the traditional digital Von Neumann architecture is hitting a "power wall." The demand for ultra-low latency and extreme energy efficiency in edge devices - from autonomous robots to wearable haptic interfaces - requires a fundamental rethink of how we process information. This keynote explores the revival of analog computing, not as a relic of the past, but as a high-performance, reconfigurable, and software-integrated future.
We introduce the REDAC (REconfigurable Discrete Analog Computer), a paradigm-shifting platform that replaces the manual patching of historical systems with a digital configuration layer. By allowing researchers to describe, compile, and execute mathematical problems directly on analog hardware, the REDAC combines the physical speed of dynamical systems with the programmability of modern digital environments.
Prof. Dr. Bernd Ulmann, born on July 19, 1970, studied mathematics as his major and philosophy as his minor at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, where he obtained his diploma in mathematics. He went on to complete his Ph.D. at the University of Hamburg. Today, he is a professor at FOM University of Applied Sciences and a co-founder of anabrid GmbH. In addition to his academic and entrepreneurial work, he is the author of two standard works in the field of analog and hybrid computing: Analog Computing (3rd edition, De Gruyter, 2026) and Analog and Hybrid Computer Programming (2nd edition, De Gruyter, 2023).
Dr. Lucas Wetzel is Chief Scientific Officer at anabrid GmbH, where he directs research and development in unconventional computing. He holds a Diploma in Physics from the University of Leipzig and ETH Zurich (2008) and a Dr. rer. nat. in Theoretical Physics from TU Dresden (2012), earned under Prof. Frank Jülicher at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS).
In 2008, he joined MPI-PKS in Dresden as a PhD student and later as a postdoctoral researcher and project leader. In 2019, Lucas Wetzel was awarded a VIP+ validation grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Since January 2023, he has led R&D on modern hybrid computer architectures at anabrid GmbH, and in July 2024 he was appointed Chief Scientific Officer. In this role he has extended his academic trajectory into R&D. Lucas Wetzel is a member of the German Physical Society (DPG) and was featured as a speaker at the 2025 Falling Walls Science Summit.