DATE 2024 Initiative on Autonomous Systems Design (ASD)

Fueled by the progress of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems become more and more integral parts of many Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) applications, such as automated driving, robotics, avionics, industrial automation and smart systems in general. Autonomous systems are self-governed and self-adaptive systems that are designed to operate in an open and evolving environment which is not completely defined at design time. This poses a unique challenge to the design and verification of dependable autonomous systems. Following the successful editions from previous years, DATE is again hosting the Initiative on Autonomous Systems Design. The initiative will include peer-reviewed papers, invited contributions and interactive sessions.

Organizing Committee

• Rolf Ernst, Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany
• Dirk Ziegenbein, Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany
• Selma Saidi, Technical University Dortmund, Germany
• Sebastian Steinhorst, Technical University Munich, Germany

DATE Initiative on Autonomous Systems Design (ASD)

Full Program

Monday/Tuesday 25-26 March

ASD1: Technical Session 1 (Monday March 25: 11h- 12h30)

Title: Designing Adaptive Autonomous Systems for Resource-Constrained Platforms

Talk 1: “Context-aware Multi-Model Object Detection for Diversely Heterogeneous Compute Systems”  Justin Davis and Mehmet Belviranli , (jcdavismines [dot] edu)

Talk 2: “Adaptive localization for autonomous racing vehicles with resource-constrained embedded platforms”, Federico Gavioli, Gianluca Brilli, Paolo Burgio and Davide Bertozzi,  (paolo [dot] burgiounimore [dot] it) (Link to presentation video)

Talk 3: “Adaptive Deep Learning for Efficient Visual Pose Estimation aboard Ultra-low-power Nano-drones”, Beatrice Alessandra Motetti, Luca Crupi, Omer Mohammed Elamin Elshaigi Mustafa, Matteo Risso, Daniele Jahier Pagliari, Daniele Palossi and Alessio Burrello, (beatrice [dot] motettipolito [dot] it (beatrice[dot]motetti[at]polito[dot]it))

ASD2:  Technical Session 2 (Monday March 25: 14h- 15h30)

Title: Towards Assuring Safe Autonomous Driving

Talk 1: “Back to the Future: Reversible Runtime Neural Network Pruning for Safe Autonomous Systems”, Danny Abraham, Biswadip Maity, Bryan Donyanavard and Nikil Dutt(dannya1uci [dot] edu)

Talk 2: “Automated Traffic Scenario Description Extraction Using Video Transformers”, Aron Harder and Madhur Behl, (ah2phvirginia [dot] edu)

Talk 3: “ADAssure: Debugging Methodology for Autonomous Driving Control Algorithms”, Andrew Roberts, Mohammad Reza Heidari Iman, Mauro Bellone, Tara Ghasempouri, Olaf Maennel, Jaan Raik, Mohammad Hamad and Sebastian Steinhorst, (andrew [dot] robertstaltech [dot] ee (andrew[dot]roberts[at]taltech[dot]ee))

ASD3: Special Session (Monday March 25: 16h30- 18h00)

Title: On Perception in Autonomous Systems

Organizer: Marilyn Wolf, University of Nebraska, USA

Talk1: “Enhancing Closed Loops: A Control-Aware Perception Approach for UAVs”, Veera Venkata Ram Murali Krishna Rao Muvva, Kunjan Theodore Joseph, Kruttidipta Samal, Marilyn Wolf, Santosh Pitla, University of Nebraska -- Lincoln, USA. 

Talk2: “Harnessing Brain-Inspired Hyperdimensional Computing for Lightweight, Error-Resilient, and Fast Machine Learning”, Hussam Amrouch, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany. 

Talk3: “Real-time perception uncertainty estimation”, Minah Lee and Saibal Mukhopodhyay, Georgia Tech, USA.

Talk4: Designing Neural Networks for Machine Perception in Autonomous Systems, Marilyn Wolf, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, USA

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ASD Technical Session 4 (Tuesday March 26: 08h30h- 10h00)

Title: Real-Time Aware Communication Systems for Autonomy

Talk 1: “An Adaptive UAV Scheduling Process to Address Dynamic Mobile Network Demand Efficiently”, Ruide Cao, Jiao Ye, Jin Zhang, Qian You, Chao Tang, Yan Liu and Yi Wang , (caord2022mail [dot] sustech [dot] edu [dot] cn)

Talk 2: “End-to-End Latency Optimization of Thread Chains Under the DDS Publish/Subscribe Middleware”,  Gerlando Sciangula, Daniel Casini, Alessandro Biondi and Claudio Scordino, (gerlando [dot] sciangulahuawei [dot] com (gerlando[dot]sciangula[at]huawei[dot]com))

Talk 3: “Orchestration-aware optimization of ROS2 communication protocols”, Mirco De Marchi and Nicola Bombieri, (nicola [dot] bombieriunivr [dot] it)

ASD5a: Keynote (Tuesday March 26: 11h00h- 12h00)

Speaker: Edward Lee (EECS, UC Berkeley)

Title: “Certainty or Intelligence: Pick One!”

ASD5b: Poster Session (Tuesday March 26: 12h00h- 12h30)

• “Constraint-aware Resource Management for Cyber-Physical Systems”, Justin McGowen, Ismet Dagli, Neil Dantam and Mehmet Belviranli,  (ismetdaglimines [dot] edu)
• “Robustness and Accuracy Evaluations of Localization Techniques for Autonomous Racing”, Tian Yi Lim, Nicolas Baumann, Edoardo Ghignone and Michele, Magno (eghignonepbl [dot] ee [dot] ethz [dot] ch (eghignone[at]pbl[dot]ee[dot]ethz[dot]ch))
• “A Stakeholder Analysis on Operational Design Domains of Automated Driving Systems”, Marcel Aguirre Mehlhorn, Hauke Dierend, Andreas Richter and Yuri Shardt, (yuri [dot] shardttu-ilmenau [dot] de)

ASD6 Workshop (Tuesday March 26: 14h00h- 18h00)

Title:  “Autonomous Systems Certification and Homologation”

Abstract: Autonomous functions have been proposed for pretty much all transport systems, vehicles, aircraft, or rail systems. Such transport systems and their design are governed by safety standards that are developed by large groups in public bodies or standardization organizations. At the core of such safety standards are certification or homologation processes that govern the regulatory approval of an autonomous system. A major challenge for this approval is the coexistence of traditional transport systems and transport systems with different levels of autonomy. This coexistence is a necessity, as there will be no exclusive space for autonomous transport systems, neither in the air nor on the ground, especially in densely populated areas. There are many related projects and initiatives addressing this challenge with different requirements and rules, in part a result of the specific form of potential system interference, in part based on the tradition of safety guarantees in the respective domain. The European U-space initiative is a very good example regulating the coexistence of traditional and unmanned aircrafts and drones and the related design processes and protection mechanisms.

Workshop Organization:  After an introduction, the workshop will start with a first session of introductory talks by experts from industry and public authorities in the different domains. In the second session, a panel of experts will discuss the implications for Autonomous Systems Design and research in the field.

ASD6.1: Introductory Talks (14h00-16h00)

Talk 1: “ISO PAS 8800: An AI safety standard for automotive applications”,
Simon Burton, Independent Consultant and Honorary Visiting Professor, University of York

Talk 2: “Certifying Autonomy in Railway Systems”,
Mario Trapp, Director Fraunhofer Institute Cognitive Systems

Talk 3: “AI Assurance and Challenges”,
Huafeng Yu, Highly Automated Systems Safety Center of Excellence (HASS COE), US Department of Transportation

Talk 4: “Autonomous Systems: Management Oversight of Certification and Homologation”,
William Widen, School of Law, University of Miami 

ASD6.2: Panel  (16h30-18h00)

Confirmed Panelists: 

• Huafeng Yu, HASS COE, US Department of Transportation
• Simon Burton, Independent Consultant & University of York
• Bill Widen, University of Miami
• Mario Trapp, Fraunhofer IKS
• Matthieu Gallas, Airbus
• Benjamin Lesage, ONERA

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Call for Papers (closed)

Areas of Interest

We welcome your contributions within the scope of the event. The main areas of interest include but are
not limited to the following:

• Concepts, Algorithms and Formal Methods for Autonomy
• Platforms for Autonomous Systems
  • Architectures (from Chip Level to System Level) for Autonomous Systems
  • Middleware and Frameworks (e.g., ROS) for Autonomous Systems
  • Models and HW/SW Mechanisms for Self-Awareness and Self-Adaptation
• Design of Autonomous Systems
  • Mastering Emergent and Evolving Behavior (Goals, Constraints, ...)
  • Design, Verification and Test of High-Assurance Learning-Enabled Systems
  • Design Automation and Methodologies for Autonomous Systems
• Dependability and Trustworthy Autonomy
  • Functional Safety and Assurance Cases for Evolving and Learning-Enabled Systems
  • HW/SW Mechanisms for Resilient Systems
  • Autonomous Systems Security
• Applications and Case Studies of Autonomous Systems

Types of Contributions

Conference Papers:

The special initiative features regular sessions for presenting novel technical contributions. Submitted papers will undergo a peer-review process and accepted papers will appear in the DATE conference proceedings. All manuscripts should be submitted in pdf format not exceeding 6 pages, following the DATE submission instructions. Detailed submission instructions can be found here: https://www.date-conference.com/call-for-papers#Autonomous-Systems-Design

• Abstract Submission: Saturday, 04 November 2023 AoE
• Full Paper Submission: Saturday, 11 November 2023 AoE
• Acceptance Notification: Sunday, 17 December 2023 AoE

Special Sessions / Panels / Interactive Sessions:

We additionally solicit proposals for special sessions, panel discussions, interactive sessions and invited talks, targeting emerging challenges in the field of autonomous systems, especially that are of interest to the DATE conference participants. Sessions on industrial perspectives, prototypes and demos are also highly welcome. Proposals must consist of an extended summary of up to 1,500 words in a PDF file, describing the topic, the authors/speakers, and the intended format. 

Submission deadline is Saturday, 11 November 2023 AoE.

Submission Instructions

All submissions should follow the DATE proceedings submission instructions. Please submit your contribution at https://softconf.com/date24/special_ASD/