Subject: workshop on software engineering and mobility - CFP

From: "Gian Pietro Picco" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 15:23:38 +0100

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                            Call for Participation

                WORKSHOP ON SOFTWARE ENGINEERING AND MOBILITY

                             co-located with the
      23rd International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2001)
                      http://www.csr.uvic.ca/icse2001/      

            Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
                               May 13-14, 2001

                              Workshop Web site:
               http://www.elet.polimi.it/~picco/icse01mobility

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IMPORTANT DATES

March  15, 2001  Electronic submission of the position paper
March  31, 2001  Invitation to the workshop
May 13-14, 2001  Workshop
June    1, 2001  Invitation to submit to ACM TOSEM

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ORGANIZERS

Gruia-Catalin Roman, 
Washington University in Saint Louis, MO, USA, 
E-mail: [email-masked], WWW: www.cs.wustl.edu/~roman

Gian Pietro Picco,  
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
E-mail: [email-masked], WWW: www.elet.polimi.it/~picco

INVITATION

The goal of this workshop is to examine an important new wave of
technological changes in the computing environment, i.e., the integration
of computing, communication, and mobility.

In traditional computer networks, applications that are permanently located
on the same fixed hosts exchange messages via the standard infrastructure
made of fixed routers and switches. This conventional scenario is being
stretched in two different directions by the introduction of mobility. On
one hand, the physical mobility of hosts is nowadays enabled by the
increasing use of base stations (fixed routers with wireless communication
capabilities) placed at the periphery of the fixed network, to control
message traffic to and from mobile hosts forming a dynamic
fringe. Ultimately, mobile hosts can detach themselves completely from the
fixed infrastructure and may evolve independently of it in a completely
untethered fashion. Such clouds, called mobile ad hoc networks, are
opportunistically formed structures that change rapidly in response to the
movement of the carriers to which the mobile hosts are attached.

Across this highly dynamic physical structure a logical layer still more
fluid is emerging. Code mobility removes the static binding between the
software components of a distributed application and the network hosts
where they are executing. Relocation of such components is then enabled, to
achieve a higher degree of flexibility and customizability, or improved
bandwidth utilization.  More radical views encompass migration of execution
units, mobile agents autonomously performing tasks without requiring
permanent connectivity with the client. Although the interest in code
mobility is being popularized and amplified by the success of the Java
language, the relevance of mobile code is not only technological. This form
of logical mobility has the potential to completely change the way
distributed applications are conceived and deployed, by lifting the
location where a component is executed to the status of first-class design
concept.

Sorting out the software engineering implications of this intriguing and
perplexing wave of technological changes is a nontrivial task. This
Workshop is dedicated to the notion that software engineering must play a
constructive role during these early and exciting phases in the development
of the infrastructure and applications supporting mobile
computing. Researchers are invited to discuss fundamental models, emerging
themes, research opportunities, technological trends, and market forces in
the field of mobile computing and communication.  The immediate objective
is to provide a forum for intellectual debate. The ultimate goal is to
define an influential research agenda for the area as a whole and to
generate advocacy for it by stimulating new research initiatives.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Contributions are sought regarding any research issue specific to (any form
of) mobility, and related to software engineering. Position papers
describing approaches that aim at defining a common ground for physical and
logical mobility are particularly welcome. Topics include, but are not
limited to:

Technology:     * middleware, runtime systems, computing environments  
                * software architectures, design patterns  
                * programming language constructs  
                * algorithms  
Models:         * semantics  
                * specification  
                * verification  
Applications:   * case studies  
                * experience reports  
                * performance comparisons 

PUBLICATION PLANS

All position papers accepted for presentation in the workshop will be
included in the proceedings, distributed to all the workshop attendees and
available for sale to ICSE participants. An electronic version of the
workshop proceedings will be made available on the Web.

Plans call for extended versions of a select set of position papers to be
invited for publication in the ACM Transactions of Software Engineering and
Methodology (TOSEM). The selection will be based on the quality of the
technical presentation, the editorial needs, and the originality of the
material included in the position paper. Paper review and final acceptance
will follow standard TOSEM procedures.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Authors are invited to submit by e-mail a single electronic version of
their position paper to the address [email-masked]. Both
PostScript and PDF formats are acceptable. Submissions must be received by
March 16, 2001. The position paper must be in English, formatted according
to the guidelines for ICSE proceedings, and a maximum of 4 pages long
(exclusive of the cover page).  The cover page must contain: the title; the
authors' names and affiliations; the electronic address for the contact
author; and an abstract of no more than 200 words.

Papers submitted for consideration may be based on previously published
material or papers currently under review, provided that this fact is noted
and a reference to the original material and its publication status is
provided.  Nevertheless, authors should keep in mind that only position
papers that contain original unpublished material will be considered for
the invitation to publish their results in TOSEM.

TRAVEL GRANTS FOR STUDENTS

Pending approval from NSF, travel grants will be made available on a
competitive basis to doctoral students interested in participating to the
workshop. Grants will range from $500 to $1,000.  Requests for travel
grants must be received by March 16, 2001, in the form of a one-page
position statement following the aforementioned submission guidelines. The
cover letter of the position statement should include the expected date of
graduation, as well as the name of the student's advisor.

ORGANIZATION

All authors whose position papers are relevant for the themes of the
workshop will be invited to attend. A special invitation to present a
position paper and lead the related discussions will be extended to authors
whose work and ideas promise to be influential, are thought provoking, or
offer an interesting integration of existing research trends.

The workshop will be organized around a critical evaluation of the ideas
advocated in these position papers. Brief paper presentations will be
followed by moderated plenary discussions. Ample time will be reserved for
in-depth exploration of ideas about the future of mobility and its impact
on the software engineering community.