Description and Aim

In the area of embedded systems, we are facing the following major changes:

• Embedded Systems are becoming more and more distributed and networked;
• They are comprised of many co-operating individual components.

Examples of such systems are networks of sensors and actuators, home and car networks, communication networks, distributed radio telescopes, personal health care networks, environmental monitoring networks, ubiquitous and pervasive computing networks, and more.

There are several fundamental problems that make the design of Distributed Embedded Systems and Software difficult:

• Handling non-functional and resource constraints,
• Design under conflicting dependability criteria,
• Trade-off between average performance and predictability.

To master these problems, it has been found that conventional computer science and engineering methods are at their limits. In fact, moving from traditional component-level design to multi-component distributed systems demands for a paradigm shift in both modelling and design methods. The workshop will address specific challenges in this emerging paradigm shift. They are

• Modular design strategies for distributed embedded systems (composable analysis methods; rich component concepts, design methodologies),
• Predictability and Efficiency (exploitation of the trade-off; approaches to predictability vs. efficiency from hardware platforms to software systems
• Design Space Exploration and Application Scenarios (applications in automotive, sensor and actuator networks, mechatronics; multi-objective optimization and bio-inspired exploration methods)

To promote a convergent way of interaction, the first two days of the workshop will be devoted to talks and discussions, ordered according to the 4 topics given above. The remaining two days will have a true workshops format to actually going ahead dealing with performance analysis, focusing on benchmark problems, and classication and comparison of proposed and available methods. In particular, a set of benchmark examples will be defined and existing methods such as real-time calculus, holistic methods, Symta/S, timed automata will be compared.

The workshop is supported by (a) the Lorentz Center at Leiden University and (b) the honorary Pascal Chair of Leiden University and (c) the European Network of Excellence ARTIST2.