Proceedings - 11th EUROMICRO Conference on Digital System Design Architectures, Methods and Tools, DSD 2008: Message from the program chair

Euromicro Symposium on Digital System design: Architectures, Methods and Tools (DSD) addresses the key issues in design, architectures and implementation of digital systems. DSD is a discussion forum for researchers and engineers working on architectures and implementations of (embedded) digital systems, as well as efficient design methods and tools. This year, DSD2008 hosted six Special Sessions, namely Special Session on “Fault Tolerance in Digital System Design” organized by Zdenek Kotásek, Brno University of Technology (CZ), Special Session on “Prospective aspects of Networks-on-Chip” organized by Claas Cornelius, University of Rostock (DE), Special Session on “Dependability and Testing of Digital Systems” organized by Hana Kubátová, Czech Technical University in Prague (CZ), Special Session on “Planning and Optimization of Sensor Network Systems” organized by William Fornaciari, Politecnico Milano (IT), Special Session on “System-Level Energy Optimization of Embedded Software” organized by Eugenio Villar, Universidad de Cantabria (ES) and Special Session on “NEWCOM++: Flexible Radio Digital Design” organized by Dominique Noguet, CEA-LETI (FR). I would like to thank the Special Session organizers and their respective program committees for the time and effort they put in organizing the Special Sessions. This year, DSD attracted 179 submissions from 37 countries around the world. The increased number of submissions and wide geographical spread demonstrate the growing popularity of DSD and the relevance of the topics covered. All submitted works underwent a stringent and blind review process carried on by at least three independent referees. In some uncertain cases the number of referees was up to four. Based on the referee reports, the Program Committee selected 46 papers for long presentation, 46 papers for short presentation and 31 poster presentations. The three keynote speeches are very topical and are presented by experts from leading semiconductor and electronic design automation industries. I am sure all participants will enjoy and benefit from the keynote presentations. A pre-conference Tutorial Day composed of two tutorials entitled: “Qualitydriven model-based architecture synthesis for real-time embedded SoCs” and “Application mapping on a composable multi-core NoC-based SoC platform CoMPSoC” are delivered by researchers from NXP Semiconductors and Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands). It is a privilege and honor for me to be a chair of the DSD Program Committee. It has been a rewarding experience. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who worked hard to bring the programme and the proceedings together. This includes all the Program Committee members and extra reviewers. I sincerely thank them for their co-operation in the refereeing process. I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to the Steering Committee members Lech Jozwiak, Antonio Nunez and Krzysztof Kuchcinski for their constant support and advice. I would like to mention particularly the unreserved help extended by Prof. Lech Jozwiak. The symposium could not materialize without the organizing Committee headed by Gianni Conte and Monica Mordonini (University of Parma) and by Gianni Danese and Francesco Leporati (University of Pavia). Their hard work will be certainly fruitful to all the participants and will make the stay in Parma a wonderful experience. My special thanks go to my colleague Sergio Saponara, who assisted me at every step during the whole year. My thanks and appreciation goes to my Ph.D. Nicola Eugenio L’Insalata who took care of DSD 2008 web pages. Last but not least, I would like to thank all the authors for their interest in DSD. Thank you for your time and effort in preparing and submitting your work to DSD and your patience through the long process. Your hard work is the backbone of the conference. I wish you all a pleasant and fruitful meeting in Parma.