Embedded Software Design

The Journal of Systems Architecture: Embedded Software Design (JSA) is a journal covering all design and architectural aspects related to embedded systems and software. It ranges from the microarchitecture level via the system software level up to the application-specific architecture level. Aspects such as real-time systems, operating systems, programming languages, communications (limited to analysis and the software stack), mobile systems, parallel and distributed architectures as well as additional subjects in the computer and system architecture area will fall within the scope of this journal. Technology will not be a main focus, but its use and relevance to particular designs will be. Case studies are welcome but must contribute more than just a design for a particular piece of software.

Design automation of such systems including methodologies, techniques and tools for their design as well as novel designs of software components fall within the scope of this journal. Novel applications that use embedded systems are also central in this journal. While JSA does not focus on hardware design, hardware/software co-design techniques with an emphasis on software are also relevant here.

Reproducibility Badge Initiative and Software Publication

Reproducibility Badge Initiative (RBI) is a collaboration with Code Ocean (CO), a cloud based computational reproducibility platform that helps the community by enabling sharing of code and data as a resource for non-commercial use. CO verifies the submitted code (and data) and certifies its reproducibility. Code submission will be verified by the Code Ocean team for computational reproducibility by making sure it runs, delivers results and it is self-contained. For more information please visit this help article . Note that an accepted paper will be published independently of the CO application outcome. However, if the paper receives the Reproducibility badge, it will be given additional exposure by having an attached R Badge, and by being citable at the CO website with a DOI.

Special Issue on Efficient and Secure Computing and Data Systems
Submission Date: 2025-02-28

Guest editors:

Meikang Qiu, PhD
Augusta University, Augusta Georgia, USA

Wenqi Wei, PhD
Fordham University, New York, USA

Han Qiu, PhD
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Special issue information:

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the structure of the large-scale computing and data systems has undergone tremendous changes. Technologies such as software-defined networking can reduce costs to cloud networks, but it also brought unparalleled service agility. Edge computing and hardware-oriented computing have brought new approaches to finish large amounts of tasks with enough speed.

Despite these tremendous advances, new structures for large-scale computing and data systems still face practical challenges around the most critical issues: ensuring resource efficiency and network security. First, resource utilization and performance sustainability will be big concerns for the new structures. Second, advanced threats and shared responsibility models can disrupt the infrastructure and result in security breaches and other serious losses.

This special issue thus serves as a forum for gathering original research outcomes in resource management and security for new architectures for computing and data systems, with the ultimate goal of advancing robust and reliable large-scale computing and data systems.

Technical Scope of the Proposal:

    Resource allocation and management for computing and data systems
    AI and machine learning for edge and cloud computing
    Large Language Models (LLM) in computing and data system optimization
    Energy-efficient green cloud and edge computing for computing and data systems
    Intelligent resource provision and load balance for computing and data systems
    Data security and privacy in large-scale computing and data systems
    Security protocols and architectures for computing and data systems
    Hardware security design for computing and data systems
    Advanced multi-cloud and hybrid cloud for computing and data systems
    Environment impact and evaluation for computing and data systems
    Tools to monitor and optimize computing and data systems

Manuscript submission information:

General information for submitting papers to JSA can be found at Guide for authors - Journal of Systems Architecture.

Submissions should be made online Submission site for Journal of Systems Architecture . Please select the “VSI:ESCDS” option as article type of the paper.

Tentative Schedule:

Submission Deadline: Feb. 28, 2025
First Notification: March 30, 2025
Revision Due: May 31, 2025
Acceptance Notification: August 1, 2021
Final Manuscript Due: August 31, 2025
Publication Date: To be scheduled in later 2025

Special Issue on Connected and Autonomous Embedded Systems
Submission Date: 2025-03-01

Guest editors:

Daniel Casini, PhD
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna – Pisa, Italy

Qingxu Deng, PhD
Northeastern University, Shenyang, China

Zhishan Guo, PhD
NC State University, North Carolina, USA

Wei Jiang, PhD
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China

Haibo Zeng, PhD
Virginia Tech, Virginia, USA

Special issue information:

Embedded systems and their industrial applications are facing new challenges due to the increasing use of AI/ML techniques that are extremely complicated yet hardly explainable, and the introduction of connectivity that generates more access points for adversaries to launch malicious attacks. In addition, embedded systems often have to operate with limited resources (e.g. low energy levels), at ultra large-scale (similar to that of Internet), while maintaining high fidelity (e.g. safety and security).

To tackle these challenges, this special issue is to bring together researchers and practitioners from industry and academia, provide them with a platform to report on recent developments, deployments, technology trends and research results, as well as initiatives related to embedded systems and their applications in a variety of industrial environments.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

    Design and Validation of Embedded Systems​
    Real-Time Systems
    Real-Time Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
    Models of Embedded Computation
    Design and Verification Languages
    Operating Systems and Scheduling
    Timing and Performance Analysis
    Design Space Exploration
    Virtualization Technologies
    QoS Mechanisms for Virtualization
    Energy and Power Aware Embedded Computing
    Fault Tolerance & Dependability Adaptive Embedded Systems
    Cyber-Security for Embedded Systems

SYSTEM-ON-CHIP AND NETWORK-ON-CHIP DESIGN & TESTING

    Design of Application-Specific Instruction-Set Processors
    Design and Programming of Embedded Multiprocessors
    SoC Communication and Architectures
    RISC-V and Open Hardware
    NoC Communication and Architectures
    Design of SoC/NoC
    Platform-Based Design for Embedded Systems
    Reconfigurable Platforms
    Multiprocessor SoC Platforms and Tools]
    Testing of Embedded Core-based Integrated Circuits
    Hardware Security

NETWORKED EMBEDDED SYSTEMS AND EDGE COMPUTING

    Embedded AI
    Design Issues for Networked Embedded
    Middleware Frameworks
    AI at the edge
    Resource Scheduling and Orchestration in Distributed Systems
    Self Adaptive Networked Entity Sensor Networks
    Time-Sensitive Networks and 5G/6G-enabled Embedded Systems
    End-to-End Latency Guarantees in the Edge-to-Cloud Continuum
    Methodologies for Performance-Aware Functional Decomposition between Cloud and Edge
    Safety, Security, and Real-Time Performance in Distributed Applications

EMBEDDED APPLICATIONS

    Cyber-physical systems and Internet of Things, including Industrial Automation and Controls
    Automotive Applications and Autonomous Driving
    Intelligent Transportation Systems
    Smart Home
    Wireless Health Care
    Industrial Building Automation and Control
    Real-Time Edge Computing Use Cases

We welcome submissions that explore the latest research and developments in embedded systems and their industrial applications. We will also select several high-quality papers from SIES 2024 (The 14th IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Embedded Systems), invite the authors of the selected papers to extend them and submit for consideration for the special issue.

Manuscript submission information:

General information for submitting papers to JSA can be found at Guide for authors - Journal of Systems Architecture.

Submissions should be made online Submission site for Journal of Systems Architecture . Please select the “VSI:CAES” option as article type of the paper.

Final Manuscript Submission Deadline: 1st March 2025

Special Issue on Security and Privacy in AIoT-enabled Smart Society
Submission Date: 2025-04-01

Guest editors:

Associate Prof. Qin Liu 
Hunan University, Changsha, China

Prof. Kouichi Sakurai
Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

Prof. Richard Hill 
University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK

Associate Prof. Wenjia Li
UK New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, USA

Special issue information:

In a smart society, numerous artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) communicate and collaborate to improve our quality of life. Both artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of things (IoT) are foundational technologies that have been interacting with each other to realize a smart life. As massive amounts of sensitive data are generated, processed, and exchanged through IoT devices and AI technologies, one of the fundamental problems is how to provide intelligent services in smart society without compromising security and privacy.

This special issue aims to bring together researchers and practitioners in IoT, AI, and network security, to share their novel ideas and latest findings in relation to security and privacy in AIoT-enabled smart society. The scope and interestsfor the special issue include, but are not limited to, the following list:

    Secure IoT infrastructure for smart society​
    Secure smart society applications, including secure AI-driven IoT applications
    Authentication and access control in IoT-enabled smart society
    Intrusion detection for IoT-enabled smart society
    Architectures and standards for secure IoT systems
    AI and big data techniques for IoT-enabled secure smart society
    Blockchain technology for IoT-enabled secure smart society
    Secure multi-party computation techniques for ML
    Security optimization in heterogeneous environments
    AI-driven mechanisms and models to perform attacks
    Security and privacy issues in AI-enabled IoT communications and systems
    Privacy-preserving ML
    Privacy-preserving data mining
    Privacy and anonymity techniques for IoT and AI
    Data privacy in AIoT-enabled smart society
    Privacy preserving techniques for IoT-enabled smart society
    Privacy modeling and analysis for IoT-enabled smart society
    Miscellaneous privacy issues in AIoT-enabled smart society

Manuscript submission information:

Important Dates

Submissions Deadline: April 1, 2025
First-round pass notification: April 15, 2025
Review result notification: June 1, 2025
Acceptance/rejection: August 30, 2025
Publication: 2nd Quarter 2025