Latest News Report on the 6th IEEE Inter. Workshop on Factory Communication Systems - WFCS 2006. The sixth IEEE International Workshop on Factory Communication Systems (WFCS 2006) took place in Turin, at the “Torino Incontra” Conference Center, from June 27 to June 30, 2006. This year edition was co-sponsored jointly by the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, the Institute of Electronics and Computer and Communications Engineering of the Italian National Council of Research (IEIIT-CNR), and the Piedmont chapter of the Italian National Association for Automation (ANIPLA). The WFCS series is the privileged forum for researchers, practitioners and developers who are active in the field of communications for automation, in general, and, of industrial, building and automotive communication networks, in particular. The scientific program of WFCS 2006 included 10 technical sessions focusing on most advanced topics in the areas of safety and security in industrial communications, industrial Ethernet and industrial wireless networks, performance evaluation and modelling of distributed production systems, real-time communication mechanisms and related scheduling issues. About 40 original technical papers were presented, which underwent a careful revision process carried out by the WFCS 2006 international Program Committee. Beside regular sessions, the workshop featured two work-in-progress sessions including about 20 papers that focused on innovative ideas whose development was still ongoing at the time of writing. For the first time ever since the beginning of the WFCS series of workshop, technical sessions were complemented by two panel sessions; the first was entitled “Industrial Applications of Wireless Communication Systems” and was chaired by Prof. Andreas Willig from the TU Berlin while the second focused on the “Integration of Automation Networks” and was chaired by Prof. Martin Wollschlaeger from the TU Dresden. The workshop program also included two keynote presentations on real-time communications in automotive environments (“The role of real-time communication for distributed or centralized architectures in vehicle dynamics control systems”, by Prof. Sergio Savaresi from the Politecnico di Milano, and “FlexRay – a Communication Network for Automotive Control Systems” by Dr. Rainer Makowitz from Freescale). As usual in WFCS, the three-day workshop was preceded by the Industry Day held on June 27 2006 that is aimed at promoting cooperation between industry and academia. Industry Day technical presentations  were carried out by worldwide experts from both leading organisations  in the factory communication scenario, such as ABB Corporate Research, Freescale, Gefran, Hirschmann, Rockwell Automation, Sensicast and Siemens, and advanced users such as the RFX Consortium of Padua, Italy. The Industry Day also featured a public discussion on “Future trends in factory communication systems”, chaired by Dr. Thilo Sauter from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Noteworthy, the best paper award of WFCS 2006 has been assigned to the paper “Security in Networked Building Automation Systems”, by W. Granzer, W. Kastner, G. Neugschwandtner, and F. Praus. The award ceremony was held during the gala dinner at the Ristorante del Cambio,  the best restaurant in Torino and one of the best in Italy. Personalised silver/glass plates were given to the Authors of the Best Paper. Beside the gala dinner, guests were offered a welcome reception to Palazzo Cisterna (Headquarter of the Provincia di Torino) and a visit and buffet dinner at the Borgo Medioevale, a medieval castle and village, that is one of the most famous and attractive places in Torino.  Adriano Valenzano on behalf of the WFCS 2006 Organizing Committee   Some Photos from the event:

WFCS 2006 Opening Session; Prof. Adriano Valenzano addresses the audience.

Public Discussion; Prof. Thilo Sauter at the lectern.

Best Paper Award - Prof. Wolfgang Kastner received the award.
Top row from left: Prof. Gianluca Cena, Prof. Wolfgang Kastner, Prof. Francisco Vasques, and Prof. Thilo Sauter (sitting). Bottom row, middle: Prof. Francoise Simonot-Lion.

Dinner

Visit to Plazzo Cisterna