Industry 4.0 (I4) is the next software revolution from computerized systems to digitalization of industry solutions. This fourth generation of the industrial revolution attempts to automate as much as possible all industrial processes and manage an unprecedented amount of data where cyber-physical systems (CPSs) interact with humans to produce software-intensive systems more efficiently. From a software engineering perspective, such complex systems must be produced in many cases using continuous software engineering approaches in support or supply chains and multiple releases demanding continuous integration and delivery. From the software architecture point of view, flexible and open architectures are required to integrate the diversity of platforms and technology in support of I4 processes and manage the vast amount of data required by complex engineering processes. Consequently, this workshop aims to increase the awareness combining software architecture and complex systems engineering processes to understand how modern systems under the industry 4.0 umbrella must be designed and efficiently built at lower costs.

The list of research topics (but not limited to) is:

Software architecture and Ecosystems for I4
Software architectures for complex systems in smart factories
Integration of multiple stakeholders’ concerns in the software architecting process
Architectures for CPS systems
Domain-specific architectures (e.g. automotive, safety-critical systems, smart cities, and IoT systems)
Case studies of software architectures supporting I4 processes
Evolution and migration of software architectures to integrate I4 solutions
Architecting out complexity and multiple views
Design principles: Interconnection, Information transparency, decentralized decisions, etc.
Systems engineering development and integration
Collaborative aspects in I4 ecosystems
Continuous integration, deployment, and delivery of systems
DevOps tools and solutions for I4
Variability for accelerating the deployment and configuration of multiple releases (especially at run-time)
Architectures for dynamic ecosystems
Quality aspects
Monitoring the quality of I4 processes
Estimating technical debt and architecture erosion
Continuous monitoring solutions of systems quality in architecture and code
Tools for monitoring the quality of systems
Technical and environmental sustainability for I4
I4.0 in practice
Case studies and experiences adapting software architectures to smart factories
M2M and human-to-machine communication to improve productivity in smart factories
Human factors training highly qualified workers and skilled customers
Architecture evolution and migration case studies
Adoption of new technologies supporting smart factory production (e.g. BigData analytics, ML, Blockchain)
Case studies and experiences in automating I4 processes