· Hub for the NS Community ·
Dear community members,
Normalized Systems can be a valuable partner when integrating AI into software development. Today, many developers already rely on language models to assist with daily tasks such as coding examples or speed reading documentation. Organizations worldwide are exploring how artificial intelligence can automate software development. At the same time, NS offers a solution for the safe and reliable use of AI-generated code in large-scale software systems, a compass to navigate AI-driven software development.
To support this advancement, NSX will participate in the First International Conference on AI-based Software Engineering for Digital Services, taking place on November 16th in Nice, France. Prof. Dr. Herwig Mannaert has been appointed as one of the conference chairs.
For more information, visit the official website.
In the near future drones will become a crucial part of logistics and for that reason Helicus is expanding their scope to executing cargo drone validation flights in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges geozone. The Helicus technical team is preparing a 95 kg cargo drone for flights in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.
The guidance software used for these flights was developed with NS tools, which are designed to work smoothly with other systems and technologies. Helicus supports the principle of Open Modular Architecture in which different drone manufacturers can connect to the system. This results in a wide variety of use cases such as the medical deliveries or the upcoming cargo flights.
The software integrations go beyond the guidance tools. The automated hardware of other Helicus products is also integrated in this system. “As one of the first in the EU to be able to operate this class of heavy drones, Helicus leverages this capability to validate our own products that we make for drone operators and manufacturers to facilitate drone ground handling as well as air traffic integration. Helicus products like its automated Drone Cargo Ports hardware (DCPs) and Command and Control Center software (C2C) help you to ensure seamless coordination of your drones and with wider air traffic management, unlocking new possibilities for e.g. logistics and critical transport drone missions.”
On the occasion of the 16th anniversary of the founding of the Faculty of Information Technology at the Czech Technical University in Prague, held on June 5, 2025, at the historic Bethlehem Chapel, Professors Jan Verelst and Herwig Mannaert were honored with the Dean's Award. The Dean personally thanked them for their outstanding contributions to the development of the faculty, particularly their instrumental role in establishing the double degree program, which has significantly enriched academic collaboration and international outreach. Their dedication and partnership were recognized as key elements in advancing FIT CTU’s academic mission. Professor Jan Verelst received the award.
In the eHealth domain, the FHIR standard is gaining worldwide adoption. It provides a consistent way to exchange medical data, defining both the meaning of the data (semantics) and the technical method for exchange (using **REST and JSON**). The Belgian government is actively promoting FHIR, moving away from older, often **XML-based**, exchange formats.
Because FHIR is a newer standard, its core specifications still change frequently. Moreover, national governments and specific use cases can extend the standard. When you combine this with the wide range of existing healthcare systems that need to adopt FHIR, it creates a complex environment. This is where the **flexibility of NSX tooling** really shines.
Throughout several projects, NSX has refined a FHIR metamodel, which can interpret FHIR models and leverage NSX expanders. This approach has led to various back-end implementations: both a stand-alone FHIR server can be expanded, and an additional interface on the control layer of the NS default stack, providing a FHIR-compliant interface to an NS application. During the iPSYcare project, a client application was developed as well, providing data providers with a tool to transform their internal data files to FHIR-compliant resources.
Our approach recently attracted attention from other organizations. This month, we're starting a new collaboration to develop a **FHIR client for UZ Leuven**. This project allows us to further refine our metamodel, ultimately simplifying and standardizing the development of eHealth applications that comply with the FHIR standard.
The Einstein Telescope, an advanced gravitational-wave observatory in development, aims to detect and study gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime caused by massive cosmic events like black hole mergers or neutron star collisions. A current data analysis pipeline, coherent WaveBurst, is publicly available, but its complexity and inflexibility limits its use. The Leuven Gravity Institute (LGI) contributes to the development of the Einstein telescope and needs a flexible and simple software framework for their research. To address this need, a modular wavelet analysis pipeline has been designed and implemented as part of a master thesis at the Department of Electrical Engineering of the KULeuven. It proposes a new way of structuring a Gravitational Wave (GW) data analysis pipeline, introducing modularity to GW research. Normalized systems theory served as the theoretical foundation to develop this pipeline, resulting in a flexible, adaptable and traceable software framework that could enable researchers to collaborate more efficiently, expand current opportunities, and be equipped to deal with future challenges.
More information about the Einstein Telescope and its projects: https://www.einsteintelescope-emr.eu/en/
Kind community regards and see you next month!
