In the last decade, new emerging technologies (such as IoT connectivity and smart devices) and computational models (as mobile computing, cloud computing, autonomic computing, and social computing, fog computing, to name a few) are changing impressively the way services and information systems are delivered to a collaborative multitude of end-users.
In particular, the integration of these technologies and computational paradigms (Cloud of Things, Mobile Cloud Computing, etc.) -- originally conceived to solve only a class of problems and that have had an independent evolution -- is increasingly providing a plethora of solutions to well-know problems, including solving memory-intensive and computation-intensive problems, thus making possible and effective the realization of smarter advanced distributed applications in several application domains; health-care, intelligent transportation systems, smart city services, smart home, environmental emergency response, disaster management, energy saving, are some of them.
Formal methods for the development of classical distributed systems have been extensively researched and studied. A great variety of consolidated formal theories, specification languages, design techniques, verification methods, and supporting tools have been developed and applied to several case studies. The challenge now is how to deal with the new problems (e.g., uncertainty, untrustworthiness, information loss, etc.) that are emerging in the development and maintenance of advanced computing systems, as those figured above. The employment of these new technologies, in combination or even in isolation, may unexpectedly expose the user to highly undesired consequences, such as threats to confidentiality and even financial or health danger. Ensuring the reliability, safety, availability, security, and so on, of such systems, is a very challenging problem, requiring rigorous modeling and analysis techniques that can be devised by the formal methods community. But, on the other hand, questions that arise are: Are, as they are, current formal methods suitable for the specification and analysis of such systems? Or do they require some kind of renewal? What are the upcoming challenges for the formal method community in devising formal techniques and tools for such systems?
The goal of this workshop is to bring together industrial and academic experts, from a variety of user domains and software disciplines, to help advance the state of the art. We are interested in all topics related to synergies between the field of formal methods and the fields of the new emerging technologies and computational models. We are interested also in approaches that have been incorporated into the development of real systems, and in theoretical work that promises to bring practical, tangible engineering benefits. We also encourage position papers and experience reports, which identify and structure open challenges and research questions.
Researchers, practitioners, tool developers and users, and technology transfer experts are all welcome.
List of topics includes but is not limited to:
Two kinds of contributions are invited:
- Research papers: they must be between 6 and 15 pages long (including references) for the submission and the pre-proceedings. Up to 2 additional pages will be given for the post-proceedings, only to address reviewers' comments and feedback from the workshop.
- Short new ideas/work-in-progress papers describing new approaches, techniques and/or tools that are not fully validated yet: they must be up to 6 pages (including references). No additional pages will be given for the post-proceedings. The paper must contain “(short paper)” as subtitle.
Papers must be written in English and prepared using the specific LNCS template.
All accepted papers will be published in a joint LNCS proceedings volume for SEFM co-located events.
Submission site: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=faacs2017