CISTER (Research Centre in Real-Time and Embedded Computing Systems) is a top-ranked Research Unit based at the School of Engineering (ISEP) of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (P.Porto), Portugal. CISTER was, in the 2004 evaluation process, the only research unit in Portugal, in the areas of electrical engineering and computer science and engineering, to be awarded the level of Excellent. This excellent rating was confirmed in the last evaluation process (2007) CISTER, in which only one other research unit in these areas received this rating. Since it was created, the unit grown to become one of the leading European research units in the area, contributing with seminal research works in a number of subjects.