FMAS 2024 is a two-and-a-half day peer-reviewed international workshop that brings together researchers working on a range of techniques for the formal verification of autonomous systems, to present recent work in the area, discuss key challenges, and stimulate collaboration between autonomous systems and formal methods researchers. Previous editions are listed on DBLP: https://dblp.dagstuhl.de/db/conf/fmas/index.html.

Our twitter account is: https://twitter.com/FMASWorkshop and posts about this year’s workshop use the tag #fmas2024

Autonomous systems present unique challenges for formal methods. They are often embodied in robotic systems that can interact with the real world, and they make independent decisions. Amongst other categories, they can be viewed as safety-critical, cyber-physical, hybrid, and real-time systems.

Key challenges for applying formal methods to autonomous systems include:

  • the system’s dynamic deployment environment;
  • verifying the system’s decision making capabilities – including planning, ethical, and reconfiguration choices; and
  • using formal methods results as evidence given to certification or regulatory organisations.

FMAS welcomes submissions that use formal methods to specify, model, or verify autonomous systems; in whole or in part. We are especially interested in work using integrated formal methods, where multiple (formal or non-formal) methods are combined during the software engineering process. We encourage submissions that are advancing the applicability of formal methods for autonomous systems, for example improving integration or explainability, automation or knowledge transfer of these technique; a wider discussion of these principles can be found in ‘A Manifesto for Applicable Formal Methods’.

Autonomous systems are often embedded in robotic or cyber-physical systems, and they share many features (and verification challenges) with automated systems. FMAS welcomes submissions with applications to:

  • automated systems,
  • semi-autonomous systems, or
  • fully-autonomous systems.

Topics

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

  • Applicable, tool-supported Formal Methods that are suited to Autonomous Systems,
  • Runtime Verification or other formal approaches to deal with the reality gap (the gap between models/simulations and the real world),
  • Verification against safety assurance arguments or standards documents,
  • Formal specification and requirements engineering approaches for autonomous systems,
  • Case Studies that identify challenges when applying formal methods to autonomous systems,
  • Experience Reports that provide guidance for tackling challenges with formal methods or tools, or
  • Discussions of the future directions of the field.

Because the above list is not exhaustive, if you are unsure if your paper is in scope for FMAS please feel free to email us (details below) to discuss it.

Submission and Publication

Submissions must be prepared using the EPTCS LaTeX style.

There are four categories of submission:

  • Vision papers 6 pages (excluding references) describe directions for research into Formal Methods for Autonomous Systems;
  • Research previews 6 pages (excluding references) describe well-defined research ideas that are in their early stages, and my not be fully developed yet. Work from PhD students is particularly welcome;
  • Experience report papers 15 pages (excluding references) report on practical experiences in applying Formal Methods to Autonomous Systems, focussing on the experience and lessons to be learnt;
  • Regular papers 15 pages (excluding references) describe completed applications of Formal Methods to an Autonomous System, new or improved approaches, evaluations of existing approaches, and so on.

You will need to select one of the four submission categories during submission.

These categories are intended to help you show your intent for your paper, and to allow a fairer comparison of papers. For example, a Research Preview wont be judged as not developed enough for acceptance, just because it is being compared to a Standard Paper. The category descriptions are not exhaustive and should be interpreted broadly. If you are unsure if your paper clearly fits into one of these categories, please feel free to email us (details below) to discuss it.

Please submit your paper via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=fmas2024.

Best Paper

For the first time, FMAS 2024 will honour the best paper selected with respect to reviews, program committee discussions, and conference presentations with an award.

Special Issue

We will organise a journal special issue to collect extensions of papers accepted in FMAS 2024. Look out for more details as we announce them.

Important Dates

  • Submission: 9th August 2024 Extended to 23rd of August 2024 (AOE)
  • Notification: 26th September 2024
  • Final Version due: 10th of October 2024
  • Workshop: 11th – 13th of November 2024

Venue and Registration

FMAS 2024 will be held on the 11th and 12th of November 2024, co-located with the International Conference on Integrated Formal Methods (iFM) 2024, hosted by the University of Manchester, UK.

We will accept participation in-person and remotely:

  • At least one author per paper must register and pay for on-site attendance at FMAS, even if the paper will be presented remotely – this is to ensure we cover the costs of running FMAS as a satellite workshop at iFM.
  • Presenting or participating online will be free.
  • If you are presenting your remotely, please contact us at FMASWorkshop@tutanota.com  to let us know so that we can make the necessary arrangements.

Student Registration Fee Support

Formal Methods Europe Logo

We are pleased to be able to offer free registration (FMAS only) for a limited number of students attending the FMAS 2024. This is possible thanks to sponsorship by the Formal Methods Europe association. Details are still being decided and will be announced. Any questions can be directed at FMASWorkshop@tutanota.com.

Programme Information

Schedule

To Be Announced.

Invited Talks

Dr Silvia Lizeth Tapia Tarifa An associate professor at the Department of Informatics, University of Oslo. Her main research area in formal methods for parallel and distributed systems.

  • Title: TBA
  • Abstract: TBA

Accepted Papers

To Be Announced

Programme Committee

Organising Committee