Challenges on Complexity and Connectivity in Embedded Systems

Technology advances and a growing field of applications have been a constant driving factor for embedded systems over the past years. However, the increasing complexity of embedded systems and the emerging trend to interconnections between them lead to new challenges. Intelligent solutions are necessary to solve these challenges and to provide reliable and secure systems to the customer under a strict time and financial budget. Typically, intelligent solutions often come up with an orthogonal and interdisciplinary approach in contrast to traditional ways of engineering solutions. Many possible intelligent methods for embedded systems are biologically inspired, such as neural networks and genetic algorithms. Multiagent systems are also prospective for an application for nontime critical services of embedded systems. Another field is soft computing which allows a sophisticated modeling and processing of imprecise (sensory) data. Thus, as expected, we received a variety of papers with interesting solutions within the topic of the special issue. We hope that this special issue will be as inspiring as it was for the editorial team.