Tobias Heß
Tobias Heß
Academic Staff
DHBW Heidenheim
tobias.hess@dhbw-heidenheim.de · ·
Tobias Heß

Tobias Heß

Academic Staff

DHBW Heidenheim

After graduating with a master’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Ulm, Germany, I am currently pursuing a PhD in computer science, also at the University of Ulm. My reasearch focus is the analysis of configurable (software) systems, typically by means of knowledge compilation, especially binary decision diagrams.

I currently work as a lecturer and system administrator at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) Heidenheim. Therein, my core responsibility, besides teaching, is the creation of interdisciplinary concepts and systems across multiple study programs.

Working Experience & Affiliations

Lecturer and System Administrator
DHBW Heidenheim 10/2025 - present
Substitute Teacher (Mathematics)
Jakob-Friedrich-Schöllkopf-Schule 01/2025 - 07/2025
External Lecturer (CS, Business Management)
DHBW Heidenheim 01/2025 - 10/2025
Research Assistant
Institute for Theoretical Computer Science, University of Ulm 04/2024 - 10/2024
Research Assistant, SoftVarE Working Group
University of Ulm 12/2020 - 03/2024
Interim System Administrator
Institute for Software Engineering and Programming Languages, University of Ulm 04/2021 - 04/2022
Developer
FeatureIDE 2020 - 2021
Teaching Assistant
University of Ulm 2016 - 2023
Tutor
University of Ulm 2013 - 2016

Publications as Primary Author (9)

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2025
Improving Deterministic BDD Compilation with Counting-Free Computation of Atomic Sets
BibTeX
Tobias Heß, Aaron Molt
Proceedings International Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC)
Pick Me: Judging Sample Quality with Binary Decision DiagramsACM Artifact BadgeACM Artifact BadgeACM Artifact Badge
BibTeX Artifact Award
Tobias Heß, Aaron Molt, Sabrina Böhm, Sebastian Krieter, Thomas Thüm
Proceedings International Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC)
A Fast Counting-Free Algorithm for Computing Atomic Sets in Feature Models
BibTeX
Tobias Heß, Aaron Molt
Cornell University Library
2024
variability.dev: Towards an Online Toolbox for Feature Modeling
BibTeX
Tobias Heß, Lukas Ostheimer, Tobias Betz, Simon Karrer, Tim Jannik Schmidt, Pierre Coquet, et al.
Proceedings International Workshop on Languages for Modelling Variability (MODEVAR)
Multi-Version Decision Propagation for Configuring Feature Models in Space and Time
BibTeX
Tobias Heß, Simon Karrer, Lukas Ostheimer
Proceedings International Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC)
Towards Deterministic Compilation of Binary Decision Diagrams From Feature ModelsACM Artifact BadgeACM Artifact Badge
BibTeX Artifact
Tobias Heß, Sean Niklas Semmler, Chico Sundermann, Jacobo Torán, Thomas Thüm
Proceedings International Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC)
UnWise: High T-Wise Coverage From Uniform SamplingACM Artifact Badge
BibTeX Artifact
Tobias Heß, Tim Jannik Schmidt, Lukas Ostheimer, Sebastian Krieter, Thomas Thüm
Proceedings International Working Conference on Variability Modelling of Software-Internationalensive Systems (VaMoS)
2022
ddueruem: A Wrapper for Feature-Model Analysis Tools
BibTeX
Tobias Heß, Tobias Müller, Chico Sundermann, Thomas Thüm
Proceedings International Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC)
2021
On the Scalability of Building Binary Decision Diagrams for Current Feature Models
BibTeX
Tobias Heß, Chico Sundermann, Thomas Thüm
Proceedings International Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC)

Other Publications (18)

2026
How Configurable is the Linux Kernel? Analyzing Two Decades of Feature-Model History -- RCR Report
BibTeX
Elias Kuiter, Chico Sundermann, Thomas Thüm, Tobias Heß, Sebastian Krieter, Gunter Saake
Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM)
How Configurable is the Linux Kernel? Analyzing Two Decades of Feature-Model History -- Summary
BibTeX
Elias Kuiter, Chico Sundermann, Thomas Thüm, Tobias Heß, Sebastian Krieter, Gunter Saake
Proceedings Software Engineering (SE)
Reusing d-DNNFs for Efficient Feature-Model Counting -- Summary
BibTeX
Chico Sundermann, Heiko Raab, Tobias Heß, Thomas Thüm, Ina Schaefer
Proceedings Software Engineering (SE)
2025
How Configurable is the Linux Kernel? Analyzing Two Decades of Feature-Model History
BibTeX
Elias Kuiter, Chico Sundermann, Thomas Thüm, Tobias Heß, Sebastian Krieter, Gunter Saake
Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM)
2024
Reusing d-DNNFs for Efficient Feature-Model Counting
BibTeX
Chico Sundermann, Heiko Raab, Tobias Heß, Thomas Thüm, Ina Schaefer
Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM)
On the Benefits of Knowledge Compilation for Feature-Model Analyses
BibTeX
Chico Sundermann, Elias Kuiter, Tobias Heß, Heiko Raab, Sebastian Krieter, Thomas Thüm
Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Internationalelligence (AMAI)
Generating Feature Models with UVL's Full Expressiveness
BibTeX
Chico Sundermann, Tobias Heß, Rahel Sundermann, Elias Kuiter, Sebastian Krieter, Thomas Thüm
Proceedings International Workshop on Languages for Modelling Variability (MODEVAR)
Collecting Feature Models from the Literature: A Comprehensive Dataset for Benchmarking
BibTeX
Chico Sundermann, Vincenzo Francesco Brancaccio, Elias Kuiter, Sebastian Krieter, Tobias Heß, Thomas Thüm
Proceedings International Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC)
On the Benefits of Knowledge Compilation for Feature-Model Analyses
BibTeX
Chico Sundermann, Elias Kuiter, Tobias Heß, Heiko Raab, Sebastian Krieter, Thomas Thüm
Proceedings International Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC)
Evaluating State-of-the-Art #SAT Solvers on Industrial Configuration Spaces
BibTeX
Chico Sundermann, Tobias Heß, Michael Nieke, Paul Maximilian Bittner, Jeffrey M. Young, Thomas Thüm, et al.
Proceedings Software Engineering (SE)
Incremental Identification of T-Wise Feature Interactions
BibTeX
Sabrina Böhm, Sebastian Krieter, Tobias Heß, Thomas Thüm, Malte Lochau
Proceedings International Working Conference on Variability Modelling of Software-Internationalensive Systems (VaMoS)
How Easy is SAT-Based Analysis of a Feature Model?
BibTeX
Elias Kuiter, Tobias Heß, Chico Sundermann, Sebastian Krieter, Thomas Thüm, Gunter Saake
Proceedings International Working Conference on Variability Modelling of Software-Internationalensive Systems (VaMoS)
2023
Evaluating State-of-the-Art #SAT Solvers on Industrial Configuration Spaces
BibTeX
Chico Sundermann, Tobias Heß, Michael Nieke, Paul Maximilian Bittner, Jeffrey M. Young, Thomas Thüm, et al.
Empirical Software Engineering (EMSE)
Continuous T-Wise Coverage
BibTeX
Tobias Pett, Tobias Heß, Sebastian Krieter, Thomas Thüm, Ina Schaefer
Proceedings International Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC)
Exploiting d-DNNFs for Repetitive Counting Queries on Feature Models
BibTeX
Chico Sundermann, Heiko Raab, Tobias Heß, Thomas Thüm, Ina Schaefer
Cornell University Library
2021
Integration of UVL in FeatureIDE
BibTeX
Chico Sundermann, Tobias Heß, Dominik Engelhardt, Rahel Arens, Johannes Herschel, Kevin Jedelhauser, et al.
Proceedings International Workshop on Languages for Modelling Variability (MODEVAR)
Incremental Construction of Modal Implication Graphs for Evolving Feature Models
BibTeX
Sebastian Krieter, Rahel Arens, Michael Nieke, Chico Sundermann, Tobias Heß, Thomas Thüm, et al.
Proceedings International Systems and Software Product Line Conference (SPLC)
Applications of #SAT Solvers on Feature Models
BibTeX
Chico Sundermann, Michael Nieke, Paul Maximilian Bittner, Tobias Heß, Thomas Thüm, Ina Schaefer
Proceedings International Working Conference on Variability Modelling of Software-Internationalensive Systems (VaMoS)

Academic Service

Journals EMSE (A), TOSEM (A*), AUSE (B), SoSyM (B)
Conferences GPCE'21 (B), SPLC'21 (B), VaMoS'22 (B), ISSTA'22 (A), SPLC'22 (B), ISSTA'23 (A), SPLC'25 (B)
Other PR and Proceedings Chair for VaMoS'23

Teaching

2026 Applied Mathematics (Cryptography and Statistics), Functional Programming, Introduction to Technical Computer Science, Introduction to Operating Systems and Networks, Big Data, Data Engineering and Management, Introduction to LaTeX
2025 Introduction to Computer Science (for non-CS students), Paradigms of Programming, Functional Programming, Elements of Discrete Mathematics, Data Engineering and Management
2024 Software Engineering Project (Master & Bachelor), Academic Writing, Introduction to LaTeX
2023 Software Engineering Project (Master & Bachelor), Academic Writing, Introduction to LaTeX
2022 Software Engineering Project (Master & Bachelor), Introduction to LaTeX
2021 Functional Programming, Software Engineering Project (Master & Bachelor), Introduction to LaTeX

Advised Theses

2024
One Solver to Rule All Feature Models -- Or Not? Addressing the Algorithm Selection Problem for #SAT
Raphael Dunkel — Bachelor's Thesis
Annotating Binary Decision Diagrams with Semantic Context from Feature-Model Analysis
Daniel Klier — Master's Thesis
T-Wise Sampling Operations on Binary Decision Diagrams
Aaron Molt — Bachelor's Thesis
Best Bachelor’s Thesis (SE‘26) 3rd Place Student Research Competition (ICSE‘26)
Commonality-Guided Identification, Resolution, and Exploitation of Variance Drivers in Feature Models
Lukas Ostheimer — Master's Thesis
Concurrent Dynamic Variable Ordering Strategies for Binary Decision Diagrams
Felix Rieg — Master's Thesis
Domain-Specific Variable Ordering for Compiling Binary Decision Diagrams from Feature Models
Sean Semmler — Bachelor's Thesis
2023
Analyzing Feature-Model Histories With Binary Decision Diagrams
Tobias Betz — Master's Thesis
Interactive Product Configuration for Multiple Feature-Model Versions
Simon Karrer — Master's Thesis
Hashing Strategies for Concurrent Building of Binary Decision Diagrams
Daniel Klier — Bachelor's Thesis
The Impact of Static Variable Ordering on Building BDDs for Real-World Feature Models
Eric Langenbucher — Master's Thesis
2022
Survey and Evaluation of Dynamic Variable Ordering Heuristics for the Construction of Binary Decision Diagrams
Konstantin Kistner — Bachelor's Thesis
A Survey of BDD-Based Tools for Points-To Analysis
Marc Lukas — Bachelor's Thesis
2021
Development of a Parallelized BDD Library in Rust
Timo Netzer — Bachelor's Thesis

Projects

variability.dev

A collection of easy-to-use tools for feature modeling and feature-model analyses.

ddueruem

A wrapper for feature-model analyses tools and frameworks.

Education

PhD Candidate
University of Ulm12/2021 – present
M.Sc. Mathematics
University of Ulm2020
B.Sc. Mathematics
University of Ulm2017

Contact

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E-Mailtobias.hess@dhbw-heidenheim.de
OfficeDHBW Heidenheim, Digitalcampus, A3.10
AddressHanns-Voith-Campus 1, 89520 Heidenheim an der Brenz