The ABZ conference is dedicated to the cross-fertilization of six related state-based and machine-based formal methods, Abstract State Machines (ASM), Alloy, B, TLA, VDM and Z, that share a common conceptual foundation and are widely used in both academia and industry for the design and analysis of hardware and software systems. It builds on the success of the first ABZ conference held in London in 2008, where the ASM, B and Z conference series merged into a single event, the second ABZ 2010 conference held in Orford (Canada), where the Alloy community joined the event, the ABZ 2012 held in Pisa (Italy), which saw the inclusion of the VDM community, and ABZ 2014 held in Toulouse (France), which brought the inclusion of the TLA community into the ABZ conference series. The ABZ 2016 conference will be held in Linz, Austria.
Contributions are solicited on all aspects of the theory and applications of ASMs, Alloy, B, TLA, VDM, Z approaches in software/hardware engineering, including the development of tools and industrial applications. The program spans from theoretical and methodological foundations to practical applications, emphasizing system engineering methods and tools that are distinguished by mathematical rigor and have proved to be industrially viable. The main goal of the conference is to contribute to the integration of accurate state- and machine-based system development methods, clarifying their commonalities and differences to better understand how to combine different approaches for accomplishing the various tasks in modeling, experimental validation, mathematical verification of reliable high-quality hardware/software systems.
Although organized to host several formal methods with ASM, Alloy, B, TLA, VDM and Z, in a single event, editorial control of the joint conference is vested in one integrated program committee, which will respectively determine its ASM, Alloy, B, TLA, VDM and Z content, to be presented in parallel conference tracks with a schedule to allow the participants to switch between the sessions.
As successfully practiced at ABZ 2014, the 5th edition of ABZ will include again special sessions dedicated to a shared real-life case study among all the methods addressed in ABZ 2016. The objective of this session is to enrich the set of case studies developed with ABZ methods with a practical and real-life case study. After the success of the “Landing Gear” case study at ABZ 2014 in the aeronautical context this time the organizers defined a real-life case study issued from the medical domain with challenging safety requirements. The ABZ 2016 case study emphasizes the control of a hemodialysis machine. See http://www.cdcc.faw.jku.at/ ABZ2016/HD-CaseStudy.pdf for a detailed description of this case study.
Submission of Papers
Proposals are invited for workshops and tutorials to take place before the main conference.
Four kinds of contributions are invited:
- Research papers: full papers of not more than 14 pages in LNCS format, which have to be original, unpublished and not submitted elsewhere.
- Short presentations of work in progress, and tool demonstrations. This is an excellent opportunity for Ph.D. students to present and validate their work in progress. An extended abstract of not more than 4 pages is expected and will be reviewed.
- Answers to case study papers: full papers of not more than 14 pages in LNCS format reporting on the experiments conducted with any of the state based techniques in the scope of ABZ 2016.
- Application in industry papers reporting on work or experiences on the application of state based formal methods in industry. An extended abstract of not more than 4 pages is expected and will be reviewed. It is also an interesting option for industrial practitioners who sometimes face too many constraints to prepare a full paper.
Contributions should be submitted electronically in PDF at the ABZ 2016 conference submission website (Easy Chair).
The papers must be prepared using the SPRINGER LNCS style. The answers to case study should be submitted electronically in PDF at the ABZ 2016 case study submission website (Easy Chair)".
All research and short accepted papers will be published in a volume of Springer's LNCS series. The answers to case study papers and the application in industry papers will be published in a volume of Springer's CCIS series. The two volumes will be distributed at the conference.
Journal Special Issues
It is planned that an improved version of a selected number of contributions will be published in a special issue of the journal Science of Computer Programming for the research papers and in a special issue of the Software Tools and Technology Transfer journal for the answers to case study papers (to be confirmed).
Workshop Proposals
Workshops and tutorials will be associated to the main event ABZ. Proposals are solicited in areas related to the conference topics. Workshop proposal should be sent to the workshop chairs.
The deadline for submissions is October 16, 2015. Notifications will be sent by November 6, 2015.
Tutorial Proposals
Tutorial proposal should be sent to the tutorial chairs.
The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2016. Notifications will be sent by March 14, 2016.
Important Dates
| Research paper and answers to case study submission: | January 15, 2016 |
|---|---|
| Short paper submission: | February 04, 2016 |
| Workshop proposal submissions: | October 16, 2015 |
| Workshop proposal notifications: | November 06, 2015 |
| Tutorial proposal submissions: | February 15, 2016 |
| Acceptance notification: | February 22, 2016 |
| Tutorial proposal notifications: | March 14, 2016 |
| Final Version due: | March 14, 2016 |
| Main ABZ 2016 conference: | May 23-27, 2016 |
Program Committee Chairs
- Michael BUTLER, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
- Klaus-Dieter SCHEWE, Johannes-Kepler-Universität Linz and Software Competence Center Hagenberg, Linz/Hagenberg, Austria
Case Study Chairs
- Atif Mashkoor, Software Competence Center Hagenberg, Hagenberg, Austria (atif.mashkoor@scch.at)
- Miklos Biro, Software Competence Center Hagenberg, Hagenberg, Austria (miklos.biro@scch.at)
Tutorial Chairs
- Vincenzo Gervasi, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy (gervasi@di.unipi.it)
- Michael Leuschel, Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany (leuschel@cs.uni-duesseldorf.de)
Workshop Chairs
- Yamine Ait-Ameur, Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse, France (yamine@enseeiht.fr)
- Stephan Merz, INRIA Nancy, Nancy, France (stephan.merz@loria.fr)
- Alexander Raschke, Universität Ulm, Ulm, Germany (alexander.raschke@uni-ulm.de)
Program Committee
Program committee will be announced at a later date.
Conference Organizers
- Klaus-Dieter SCHEWE, Johannes-Kepler-Universität Linz and Software Competence Center Hagenberg, Linz/Hagenberg, Austria (Klaus-Dieter.Schewe@scch.at)
- Atif Mashkoor, Software Competence Center Hagenberg, Hagenberg, Austria (atif.mashkoor@scch.at)
- Mariam Rady, Johannes-Kepler-Universität Linz (m.rady@cdcc.faw.jku.at)
- Mircea Boris VLEJU (webmaster), Johannes-Kepler-Universität Linz (b.vleju@cdcc.faw.jku.at)
- Martina Höller, Software Competence Center Hagenberg, Hagenberg, Austria (martina.hoeller@scch.at)
For questions concerning ABZ 2016, contact Klaus-Dieter SCHEWE (Klaus-Dieter.Schewe@scch.at).
