Automation systems development project typically include a wide range of different disciplines, i.e., mechanical, electrical, and software engineers, who have to collaborate and exchange data within a heterogeneous engineering environment. Current engineering projects suffer from weak technical integration of applied tools, e.g., for electrical and process planning, and limitations of integrating heterogeneous data models on semantic level. These limitations hinder efficient and effective data exchange between disciplines, do not consider project context and project-specific workflow definitions, and make project and quality management more complex, error-prone, and effort consuming. Common solutions focus on all-in-one solutions, which aim at integrating functionalities within one comprehensive solution (and limited data exchange to alternative solution outside the all-in-one approach); individual solutions often apply point-to-point connections between defined software tools with strong limitations in flexibility and maintainability. Nevertheless, flexible and light-weight approaches are necessary to benefit from exchanging data effectively and efficient and can improve project- and quality management requirements.

We welcome research papers as well as industry papers focusing on aspects on tool and data integration, project-aware processes, and their applications in automation systems development projects.

Topics of interest include, but are not restricted to:

Engineering Tool Integration
+ Architectural Design
+ Tool Data Integration
+ Process Orchestration
+ Model-Driven Integration
+ Automated and Integrated Data Exchange Mechanism

Engineering Processes and Data Exchange
+ Information Exchange between Different Activities of the Engineering Chain
+ Interaction of Different Stakeholders within the Engineering Chain
+ Consistency within the Engineering Chain
+ Model-Based Data Transformation/Exchange
+ Solution approaches based on current and upcoming standards, e.g., AutomationML and ontologies.

Quality Assurance
+ Product and Process Metrics
+ Defect Detection in Automation Systems Development projects
+ Engineering Process Monitoring and Tracing
+ Simulation and Virtual Startup (Digital Factory)
+ Verification and Validation

Session Organizers:
+ Dietmar Winkler, Vienna University of Technology, Austria.
+ Richard Mordinyi, Vienna University of Technology, Austria.
+ Leon Urbas, Technical University Dresden, Germany.
+ Vladimir Marik, Czech Technical University, Czech Republic

Find additional information on:
+ IECON Conference: http://www.iecon2013.org
+ IECON-ETAS CfP: http://www.iecon2013.org/files/SS34.pdf.