Communications engineering and information technology have shaped Prof. Michler's professional and academic life.

From 1957 to 1963, he studied low-current technology/high-frequency technology at the Dresden University of Technology. He continued his scientific work as an assistant at the Institute for High Frequency Technology and Communications Engineering at the Technical University of Dresden, where he received his doctorate in engineering in 1970 with a dissertation on variable cross-section waveguides with the grade "summa cum laude". Before returning to the information technology section of the TU Dresden as a senior research assistant in 1976, he worked in industry at Kombinat Robotron, first as a research assistant and later as a group leader in the field of reliability of communication and computer systems.

After his habilitation with a postdoctoral thesis on modeling the reliability of technical systems, he was appointed lecturer for information technology/reliability of electronic systems in 1976. His teaching and research areas included the reliability of satellite and radio communication systems. After his appointment as an associate professor in 1984, he was then appointed as a full professor to the Chair of Radio Technology at TU Dresden in 1988. He succeeded his mentor and predecessor Prof. Fritz Wiegmann.

Prof. Michler used the reorganization and restructuring of the TU Dresden resulting from German reunification as an opportunity to focus his broad teaching and research expertise on the field of transport research. The basic elements of this were mobile communications research in general, but also the reliability of digital railroad communication systems in particular. In 1992, he was appointed to the C4 professorship of Information Technology for Transport Systems at the Institute for Transport Information Technology in the newly founded "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport Sciences at TU Dresden. Here he taught and researched in the field of traffic telematics until his retirement in 2004.

The unity of research and teaching was always important to Prof. Michler. He taught courses for the newly created traffic engineering course in the subjects of fundamentals of information and communication technology, theory and technology of information systems, satellite communication and traffic sensor technology. His research activities with project management concerned information technology tasks in the areas of mobile phone coverage forecasts and FCD (Floating Car Data)-based traffic forecasting.

Prof. Ernst Michler was involved in various memberships in scientific organizations around the TU Dresden and in this context also rendered outstanding services to the acquisition of third-party funding for the Faculty of Transport Sciences. He was a member of the VDE (Association of Electrical Engineering), ALCATEL spokesman for the ALCATEL Foundation College for Interdisciplinary Transport Research at TU Dresden and a member of the advisory board of EIPOS (European Institute for Postgraduate Education GmbH) as a TUDAG company.
In addition, Prof. Michler has been extremely active in academic self-administration. Among other things, he was a member of the Council of the TU Dresden as well as a long-standing member of the Faculty Council of the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transportation Sciences and served as Vice Dean for one term of office. Even after his active time, he supported the faculty and supervised diploma and doctoral students. He was also involved in a TUDFaCE training and transfer project as a lecturer and mentor in the development of a transport studies course in Beijing.

The members of the Faculty of Transportation and Traffic Sciences mourn the loss of a valued fellow human being and colleague. Professor Michler accompanied a large number of students and doctoral candidates through to their graduation and beyond with great commitment and expertise.

With the death of Professor Dr.-Ing. habil. Ernst Michler, we have lost a dedicated colleague, a respected teacher and scientist.

We will honor his memory.

On behalf of all members of the Faculty of Transportation Sciences "Friedrich List"

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Regine Gerike             Prof. Dr.-Ing. Oliver Michler
Dean                                                     Institute Director