Important! Authors who wish to submit papers for any of the sessions below, should enter the invited session code (highlighted in red) in ifac.papercept.net submission page.
Description: The session is to discuss and present trends and recent advances on industrial big data analytics, cyber physical systems toward the realization of a digital twin system for future manufacturing and product service systems. The session will address issues on sensor-rich and sensor-less approaches with a systematic analytics platform and tools with case studies including embedded predictive analytics, networked products and systems, fleet-based cyber platform and applications.
Description: Industrial IoT is rapidly changing the landscape not only in the manufacturing sector (tool machine, automation, space, engines), but also in other sectors like agriculture, automotive, home, health, among others. The emerging concepts of Internet of Things is a hot topic as intelligence and information can be captured from very low level devices.
For example, billions of devices can be related to IoT devices today, and the number is growing. Research initiatives must consider how to manage the complexities of connecting a number of heterogenous devices and how to effectively integrate IoT data with data from other sources to generate valuable insights - e.g., for life, business, etc. The value comes from the improvement of such integration, automation and analysis - an end-to-end solution.
This special section focus on discussing architectures, middleware and applications of IoT. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
Description:
LEO communication networks from space
"LEO communication networks from space" are currently a very hot topic globally and might
provide a most exciting future infrastructure for telematic systems. Several consortia from US,
Asia and Europe are currenty addressing this future market.
This session addresses the development and applications of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites networks. Of particular interest are communication solutions using such networks and the control issues that need to be dealt with.
This session welcomes papers with innovative architectures, disruptive technology solutions, novel development tools and lessons learned in the operation and use of such networks.
Description: We arein the middle of a data revolution. A quality controlled IT-infrastructure is the basis for medical and clinical research. Connected medical supply and process chains are the future of our health system but without eHealth, the required documentation, communication and organization processes are impossible to implement. The topics of this session focus mainly on contributions of IT regarding economics, patient safety and quality management. We are looking forward to discuss these themes with opinion leaders from research, politics, management and medicine.
Content wise, the session will give approved, best practice examples of eHealth projects on a national and international level. Also facts and numbers of IT in hospitals will be analyzed in order to discuss if an IT infrastructure can be considered as a social challenge, as well. Our motto will be „Workflow and processes - Innovation in Healthcare IT". Focus topics will be „Mobility and Apps", "Information Flow" and „Patient oriented process support".
Description: Control systems are nowadays implemented over communication networks, in the so-called networked control paradigm. Networked control systems (NCSs) are spatially distributed systems for which the communication between sensors, actuators, and controllers is supported by a shared communication network.In this case, communication delays, package losses and heavy temporary load of computation in a processor can lead to significant variations on the sampling time. These variations can dramatically affect the stability properties and the performance of the control system. In this case, classical techniques to model linear and time-invariant systems, like the use of the Z-transform and discrete-time models obtained from the assumption of constant sampling time are no longer applicable to assess the performance or even to design the control laws. Besides, systems to be controlled usually have a nonlinear behavior and under the network delays and aperiodic sampling their control become still more difficult, especially with a prescribed performance. It should also be pointed out that the vast majority of controlled systems involving communications have either been designed without the joint control-coding approach or by using it partially in an ad hoc way. Nevertheless, separating the design of the controllers and coders can be very suboptimal, incurring some severe performance losses and significant additional costs.
The aim of this section is to cover different topics related to networked control, including for instance issues related to: communication delays,tele-operation, sampled data control, event trigger control, self-trigger control, quantization effects, etc., as well as applications of networked control on robotics and embedded systems.
This would be a good opportunity to put together people from control and network communities and potentially promote fruitful discussions considering different points of view of the same problem.
Description: Industry has always been and continues being a backbone in modern societies. However, to be competitive and sustainable, it has to continue its quest for system-wide high efficiency and high flexibility. This requires tight synchrony between all industrial system departments from management and planning to execution, maintenance, production, supply, etc. and adjusting to varying demand and potentially variable resources. This tight synchrony, which is at the core of recent developments such as Industry 4.0, pushes the limits of the underlying communication infrastructure that needs to support increasingly complex, heterogeneous and varying information requirements, from high speed isochronous horizontal flows to massive vertical flows of process monitoring, high-definition multimedia streams, complex configurations, etc. These requirements impose major development challenges, particularly when non- functional properties must be enforced, such as real-time response, traffic isolation and reconfigurability.
In this context, certain technologies gain particular relevance, such as Industrial Ethernet protocols, particularly Real-Time Ethernet protocols, and synchronization protocols such as the Precision Time Protocol. More recently, standardization efforts such Time-Sensitive Networking promise to lay the grounds to efficiently support traffic with highly heterogeneous requirements. Another related framework is that of Software-Defined Networking which is making its way from the telecommunications world into other domains such as industrial automation.
Therefore, this session aims at bringing together researchers and practitioners to presenting cutting-edge research in all aspects of industrial communications, from new concepts and protocols, to protocol modeling and analysis, system analysis and design, experience reports, etc.
Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
Description: Industrie 4.0 and CyberPhysical Systems (CPS) are fundamental concepts that are closely related to implement the "Smart Factory". The physical world when combined with the computational elements having the capability of interacting with each other form a cyber-physical system (CPS). They address the challenge of developing solutions combining mechatronics and ICT technologies, to face the current requirements imposed by customers acting in a global economy. The use of CPS aims to increase the implementation of large-scale systems, improving the adaptability, autonomy, efficiency, functionality, reliability, safety, and usability of such systems, which coincide with some of the challenges to be solved by Industrie 4.0.
These systems, developed using for instance multi-agent systems, web services, etc., are being applied to diverse areas as manufacturing, automotive, chemical processes, smart grids, renewable energies, logistics and building automation. In such systems, resilience and security are critical issues in industrial applications and systems, especially those that are mission critical. Various additional aspects are involved, e.g. the quantification of qualitative characteristics, modelling and semantics of communication.
This special session seeks contributions providing requirements, challenges, modelling methods, tools, dynamic calculation techniques, experiences, demonstrations and roadmaps that will help the development of resilient and secure industrial cyber-physical systems and agents.
Description: During recent years, the potential for application of telematics have advanced intensively. More sophisticated technology-enabled innovations allow for new applications of telematics for improving maintenance and spare parts supply chains. Intelligent Maintenance Systems make use of advanced embedded telematics solutions to gather, transform, analyze and communicate sensor data of monitored machines. The extensive collection of data results in large-scale data sets, which could be analyzed by Big Data and Predictive Analytics methods for supporting decision making in the domain of maintenance operations and spare parts supply chain management.
The objective of this session is to discuss trends and recent advances on improved telematics for Intelligent Maintenance Systems as well as advanced methods (e.g. Data Analytics, simulation-based optimization, agent-based systems) for enhancing spare parts supply chain management. Special attention will be given to practical relevance and innovations considering the fields of intelligent maintenance and spare parts supply chains.
Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:
A new Information and Communication Technology research domain call Smart Cities emerges as a very important role to promote future directions for these challenges seeking sustainable and human cities. The idea is leveraging the large team experience and expertise to exploit enabling technologies towards holistic frameworks, with powerful cluster of integrated services (including cloud computing, mobile computing, Big Data, intelligent analytics and computing, and cyber-physical systems.
Therefore, encourage submissions in topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:
Description: The role of technology in Education is largely understood by both educationalists and technologists. This scenario faces new and recent challenges posed by the widespread use of mobile devices, on one hand, and the increased offer of technology-enhanced educational tools, on the other hand. When coming to telematics, several applications are now available such as learning analytical tools based on the myriad of sensors that equip modern mobile devices; online labs that provide remote access to real equipment and apparatus and also an increased sense of immersion; augmented reality applications used in practical learning contexts (e.g. laboratories); a large variety of videoconference applications focused on education and remote meetings; and e-health tools that allow a much detailed consciousness about one´s health, among others.
This invited session aims to contribute to the present state-of-art, by sharing existing and new solutions that fit into the context of Telematics applied to Education. Prospective authors are invited to contribute with surveys and / or innovative applications, for the benefit of potential attendees willing to obtain a quick update and general overview of this field, and also of other researchers willing to enlarge their knowledge and contacts network.
Description: The evolution of industrial networks can be summarized as a constant battle to define the universal technology that integrates field devices and applications. Since the Fieldbus wars in the 1980s, diverse wired solutions have been proposed. However, this scenario has been changing due to the introduction of industrial wireless sensor networks. In the last 10 years, the development of deterministic scheduling techniques and redundant routing algorithms, advances in dependability and security embedded systems, and energy saving issues have brought wireless sensor networks into the industrial domain. This new communication paradigm is governed by a de facto standard, the IEEE 802.15.4, and more recently also by the IEEE 802.15-e. However, there are signs of a new battle on the horizon with the new publicly available specifications IEC 62591 (WirelessHART), IEC 62734 (ISA100.11a), and IEC 62601 (WIA-PA). Therefore, there is a need to investigate and disseminate research directions coming from adoption of wireless communication to automation domain. The challenge is exploiting network-related effects such as jitter, end-to-end reliability, robustness and adaptation in order to attain the stringent dependability requirement of automation applications.
The aim of this session is to provide insight on effectiveness and adoption of wireless communication in automation. This session seeks contributions related to the adaption of methods, tools and practices in industrial wireless communication for automation systems. Therefore, this special session will focus on (but not be limited to) the following topics:
Description: During the last decades there has been major growth in the application of technology for assisting people with disabilities and elderly. The main goal is to alleviate their discomfort in a variety of tasks, mainly routine activities, by providing more self-sufficiency and reduce the dependency on external help. The use of telematics can help these people to improve their quality of life. Thus, this Session will address works related, but no limited to:
Description: Networked vehicles enable a number of applications for, e.g., comfort, safety, reduced fuel- consumption and efficient use of infrastructure. Vehicles become more and more intelligent and cooperative driving and fully autonomous vehicles become reality. In this evolution, there will be a number of challenges to attack. Topics for this special section includes, but are not limited to, the following: heterogeneous networks (5G, IEEE 802.11p, …), system aspects, applications, methods and architectures for improved connectivity, MAC protocols, multi-channel communication, standardization issues, in-vehicle sensor networks, security aspects, road-side-to vehicle communication, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, dissemination and forwarding protocols, communication issues in autonomous driving, measurements and performance evaluation.
Description: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have proved their value in military applications and are recently emerging as a key technology for a number of civilian applications. More than just individual UAVs remotely operated, new UAV-based systems employ several UAVs that may operate autonomously or semi-autonomously. This new trend opens opportunities for a number of emerging applications for UAVs, which highlights the importance of research and development in this area. Topics of interest for this special section include, but are not limited to, the following: UAVs Communications and Network Technologies; Mission and Navigation Control Software; Fixed and Rotating Wings UAVs Technologies; GPS/GNSS Technologies for UAVs; Applications of UAV-based Systems; Imagery Payload Technologies and Applications; Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous UAV Technologies; Energy Sources Related Issues; UAV-based Systems Market Aspects and Legal Issues in the Usage of UAVs.
Description: The crescent intermittent and non-dispatchable renewable energy resources, distributed generation, electric transportation and the consequent dynamic balancing between energy production and consumption have changed the world’s perception of electrical energy over the last decades. In contrast to the traditional electric grids, smart grids are connected and integrated by exploiting near real-time monitoring through meters and devices and automation systems. As a consequence, smart grids ensure a better network integration, prevent losses, providing and increase the reliability in energy systems and ensuring better utilization of assets.
By taking into account interdisciplinary fields such as information and communication technologies, computer science and automation, smart grids can provide auto recovery, consumer empowerment, higher resiliency to natural disaster and cyber attacks, energy quality, new markets, integration of distributed generation and distributed storage, and reduced environmental impact.
Description: Vehicle2X communication enables data exchange between vehicles (V) and other vehicles or even infrastructure (X) such as traffic lights. This technology is not just a new kind of sensor for environmental perception but it also enables sharing of local sensor information between road users. Quantity as well as quality of available information is the key for vehicle safety, so V2X communication will boost safety applications in cars and transportation in a broader sense.
Topics of the session may include:
