This webpage summarizes the activities of the TCRTS Executive Committee (EC) for the two-year term from Jan 2020 to Dec 2021.
The information provided is in reverse chronological order, i.e. newest first. Most of the information is about proposals that were discussed and voted upon by the Executive Committee.
Each entry includes:
(i) The title of the proposal,
(ii) Date,
(iii) Proposer,
(iv) Notes giving a brief explanation
(v) Decision made.
While full details of the votes remain confidential, an indication of the extent of agreement with the final decision is given (unanimous: no votes were cast against the decision, super-majority: 1 or 2 votes cast were against the decision, majority: more than 50% of the votes cast were in favor of the decision, no explicit vote: no vote was taken, since only positive views were expressed during discussion, undecided: the vote was close to balanced and could have gone either way if all EC members had been available to vote). TCRTS EC members with a COI were not included in discussions or permitted to vote.
Event: TCRTS EC end-of-term meeting
Date: 20 Dec 2021
Informations:
– Preliminary RTSS 2021 report (by Jian-Jian Chen and Enrico Bini).
– TCRTS recent budgets and contribution from conferences surplus (Luis Almeida).
Vote:
– Proposal on conference fees and travel grants
Notes: Jian-Jia Chen presented several numbers of RTSS 2021 concerning registration and attendance, participants post-conference poll, streaming report from Underline and preliminary budget information. Then Enrico Bini presented several data related to the submissions, paper selection, TPC meeting, proceedings publication and industrial session. This preliminary presentation confirmed the success of this edition despite the extra difficulties imposed by the forced late conversion to fully virtual format.
Concerning the budgets, Luis Almeida shared the TCRTS budget of the last three years, together with the contributions from the surplus of sponsored conferences. Some comments were shared concerning our capacity to attract funding and to carry out self-investment.
Concerning the proposal, the EC voted on whether or not to adopt each part of the proposal as guidance / recommendations to conference organizers. The vote was carried out per individual part with Accept/Reject/Abstain. Two remote votes by email were also considered. The results were the following:
Proposals 1, 3 and 4 – ACCEPTED (approved unanimously with 14 votes for)
Proposal 2 – ACCEPTED (approved by majority with 12 votes for and 2 abstentions)
Proposal: Registration fees and travel grants
Date: received 29 Nov 2021, discussed by email between 13 and 20 Dec 2021.
Proposer: Rob Davis, Chris Gill and Enrico Bini (Conferences Planning and Diversity SCs)
Notes: During the discussion several comments were made in the direction of making the proposals more flexible, given the uncertainty of current times. The final text for the proposals, already accommodating the comments, is the following:
Given the uncertainty inherent in running hybrid conferences over the next few years, parts 1 and 2 below should be seen as recommendations / guidance to be worked towards before being revisited by the TCRTS EC / becoming mandatory. Given the uncertainty in numbers of physical and virtual participants and the difficulties that this entails with respect to conference budgets, organizers may depart from the guidance in particular by charging authors participating virtually a higher rate. This departure from the longer-term aim / guidance should however be ratcheted down year on year.
1. Registration fees for physical participation should not differ between authors and non-authors in the same category (e.g. student, IEEE member etc). Registration fees for virtual participation should as far as possible be nominal for both authors and non-authors, so as to maximize support for participation by all, including minority groups and those from less wealthy countries. Registration fees for virtual participation may, if it is necessary to do so, be increased for authors, but only in so far as to cover the costs of paper publication.
2. Baseline registration fees for (1) virtual participants and for (2) physical participants should reflect the costs incurred supporting each group. Hence, all local costs (e.g. venue room hire, catering, AV equipment etc.) should be covered by (1). All hybridization costs (e.g. broadcast of the presentations etc.) should be covered by (2). Registration charges should be covered by both (1) and (2), the same amount per participant. IEEE fees and contingency should be covered by increasing all registration fees by the same percentage. Publication costs should be covered as described in 1. above.
3. The IEEE TCRTS supports physical participation in sponsored conferences by funding inclusion grants. These grants are to be made available to students and also non-students from under-represented countries and minorities, with priority for grants within qualifying groups given to authors of papers. (Note that sponsorship funds sometimes come with constraints from the sponsor as to how they may be spent, which of course need to be respected). Consideration should be given to providing inclusion grants via a special registration rate, since this approach is both financially and administratively significantly more effective.
4. Costs for hybridization should be carefully controlled with free-of-charge or low cost facilities (e.g. high performance institution-backed Zoom accounts etc.) strongly preferred to commercial high-cost facilities. Volunteers organizers should be appointed to deal with the additional workload required by hybridization.
Decision: This proposal was voted in the final EC meeting on the 20th of December.
Proposal: Cancellation of the physical part of RTSS 2021
Date: 20 Nov 2021
Proposer: RTSS 2021 OC
Notes: Due to the recent covid-19 outbreak in Germany, the RTSS 2021 OC believes that safe conditions for physical participation cannot be guaranteed at this point (2 weeks from the event). Consequently, the RTSS 2021 OC proposes to convert the conference to a fully virtual event.
Several comments were produced in favor and with recommendations.
Decision: ACCEPTED (no explicit vote).
Proposal: Ratification of RTSS 2022 Organizing Committee
Date: 15-19 Nov 2021
Proposer: Arvind Easwaran and Liliana Cucu (RTSS 2022 PC and GC)
Notes: No significant disagreements or concerns raised. After a couple of interactions, the final OC was defined (see http://2022.rtss.org/organizers/).
Decision: ACCEPTED (no explicit vote).
Information: Feedback concerning the Vitality Report
Date: 26—27 Oct 2021
Proposer: Computer Society TAC
Notes: TCRTS is considered successful in general and in several points, in particular.
A few recommendations were issued, though, which were discussed in the EC:
– upgrade website template to the new one of CS
– increase visibility of member-recognition (awards…)
– be clearer on stating which are the conferences directly supported by TCRTS
– explore synergies with TCVLSI
– consider a 5%-10% increase in conference fees to raise funds for self-investment
The EC was also informed of a decision at the CS level, to change from committee to community (stresses the notion of community that is desired) and that we should soon change our name to Technical Community of Real-Time Systems.
Some internal discussion in the EC followed.
Proposal: Ratification of 2021 Test-of-Time awards
Date: 19—21 Oct 2021
Proposer: 2021 ToT Awards Committee
Notes: See https://site.ieee.org/tcrts/tcrts-tot-awards/ for a list of the awards. The regular timeline was followed as defined earlier in the year.
Decision: All awards were ratified, including three papers for the Real-Time Systems Test-of-Time Award. All awards are to be announced at RTSS 2021 except for the RTAS Influential Paper Awards, which will be announced at RTAS 2022.
Proposal: Selection of RTSS 2022 Program Chair
Date: 13-18 Oct 2021
Proposer: Conferences Planning Sub-Committee
Notes: Shortlisted candidates (in alphabetical order): Arvind Easwaran, Gabriel Parmer, Rodolfo Pellizzoni.
Decision: After a formal vote of the EC, Arvind Easwaran was invited (and accepted) to be RTSS 2022 Program Chair.
Event: TCRTS EC fall meeting
Date: 8 Oct 2021
Informations: 2021 ToT Awards, 22-23 TC Vice-Chair election, preparing the hand-over.
Discussion:
– RTSS 2021 organization status (by Jian-Jia Chen and Enrico Bini)
— program structure, activities
— disseminate the Industry session through the TCTRS industry contacts list
— TCRTS activities (open meeting, EC lunch, diversity reception/ first-time attending students)
— launching TCRTS-sponsored student travel grants
– RTAS 2022 organization status (by Heechul Yun and Nan Guan)
— PC set and ready to receive submissions (composition and statistics)
– RTSS 2022 organization status (by Liliana Cucu)
— official proposal and starting to look for venues
Proposal: Addendum to the Test-of-Time Awards regulation
Date: 16-19 Aug 2021
Proposer: Awards Sub-Committee
Notes: Three questions were asked by Sanjoy Baruah as Chair of the 2021 Test-of-Time awards committee. These were discussed first within the Awards Sub-Committee, which produced three recommendations: 1. Whether to carry nominations forward to the following years: Every nomination is valid for two years. 2. Whether to accept dissertations and technical reports: Any publication format is eligible for nomination, including dissertations and technical reports, and must be subject to the same rigorous and traceable selection criteria. 3. Whether a Test-of-Time award could be accumulated with an Influential Paper award: A publication can only receive one of these awards. Discussion within the EC revealed a lack of consensus on recommendation 2., which was dropped.
Decision: ACCEPTED recommendations 1. and 3. (included in the regulations).
Proposal: Selection of 2021 Test-of-Time Awards Committee
Date: 26-30 July 2021
Proposer: Awards Sub-Committee
Notes: Candidate list proposed for the Test-of-Time awards committee (in alphabetical order): Bjorn Brandenburg, Gerhard Fohler, Martina Maggio, Sanjoy Baruah, Sharon Hu, Tarek Abdelzhaer, Tei-Wei Kuo. Process – each TCRTS EC member (without COI) voted for 4 people from the above list. The person with the most votes was invited to Chair the Test-of-Time Awards Committee, with the next three most popular making up the rest of the committee. (If anyone turned down the invitation, then the next person in the ranked list would be invited instead).
Decision: The following were selected and accepted roles on the Test-of-Time Awards Committee for 2021: Sanjoy Baruah (Chair), Martina Maggio, Sharon Hu, Tei-Wei Kuo.
Proposal: Relocation of RTSS 2021 to Dortmund, Germany (2nd) and RTSS 2023 in Taipei
Date: 8-15 July 2021 (See initial proposal on 29 June 2021)
Proposer: Enrico Bini and Jian-Jia Chen (RTSS 2021 PC and GC)
Notes: Following discussion in the Conferences Planning Sub-Committee, it was additionally proposed to hold RTSS 2023 as a physical conference in Taipei. This would have the advantage that much of the preparatory work could be reused rather than being wasted and would give Taipei its opportunity as a host.
Decision: ACCEPTED (super-majority).
Proposal: Laurent George eulogy in the TCRTS Obituary
Date: 7-9 July 2021
Proposer: TCRTS EC Chair
Notes: Laurent George, a well-know member of the real-time systems community, passed away of illness on the 6th of July 2021. He had a significant impact in the community and was a very active member of the real-time systems community in France. Proposal to add to the TCRTS obituary.
Decision: Send a message to the family, to be conveyed directly by Liliana Cucu-Grosjean at the funeral, and also add a eulogy to Laurent George to the TCRTS obituary page (see https://cmte.ieee.org/tcrts/member-recognition/obituary/).
Proposal: A community discussion space
Date: 1-2 July 2021
Proposer: Martina Maggio and Bjorn Brandenburg
Notes: The idea is to have a meeting space open for use by the whole community, rather than on a conference by conference basis. The plan is to use Discord (many possibilities were tested) to support channels dedicated to editions of real-time conferences wishing to join, plus informal spontaneous discussion, that can be preserved and maintained in an integrated way. The space is globally managed by the TCRTS. The proposal is to make an experimental trial until end of 2021, starting with support for ECRTS 2021. No negative concerns raised.
Decision: ACCEPTED (no explicit vote).
Proposal: Relocation of RTSS 2021 to Dortmund, Germany
Date: 29 June 2021
Proposer: Enrico Bini and Jian-Jia Chen (RTSS 2021 PC and GC)
Notes: The chances of having a physical RTSS 2021 conference in Taipei are becoming slimmer by the day. After taking advice from the Conferences Planning Sub-Committee Chair, the RTSS 2021 PC and GC proposed switching location to Dortmund, Germany, where Jian-Jia Chen is based. As vaccinations are proceeding at pace in Europe, this may permit a physical conference to take place in December.
Decision: Deferred while Jian-Jia Chen and Enrico Bini gather more data to inform the EC, including understanding the administrative implications with IEEE.
Proposal: Geographical circulation of RTSS venues and RTSS 2023
Date: 25-29 June 2021
Proposer: TCRTS EC Chair
Notes: A discussion was triggered on two aspects: (i) Organize RTSS 2023 in Europe, assuming RTSS 2021 takes place physically in Taipei. (ii) Update the geographical cycle to include Asia, rotating between the three main geographical regions: Americas (north and south), Europe (also Middle-East and Africa), and Asia-Pacific.
Decision: Discussion was preempted due to possible relocation of RTSS 2021. No decision taken – to be revisited later when a decision is needed on the geographical cycle.
Proposal: RTSS 2021 registration fees for virtual participants
Date: 24 June 2021
Proposer: Jian-Jia Chen and Nathan Fisher (RTSS 2021 GC and FC)
Notes: As per the TCRTS EC decision on “a new normal for conferences” (29 Sept – 3 Oct 2020) RTSS 2021 planned to have free-of-charge registration for non-author virtual participants. However, IEEE CS policy now excludes free-of-charge registration. The IEEE Conference Planner assigned to RTSS 2021 suggested budgeting and charging nominal fees (e.g. USD 1-5 USD) instead.
Decision: ACCEPTED (Unanimous) to have nominal fees.
Event: RTAS 2021 TCRTS Awards ceremony
Date: 21 May 2021
Outline:
– Recognition of RTAS 2021 Chairs.
– Announcement of 2020 Test-of-Time Awards.
– Announcement of Technical Service Award for Gerhard Fohler
Event: TCRTS EC spring meeting
Date: 30 Apr 2021
Discussed:
– Current status of RTSS 2021, RTAS 2021, RTSS 2022, RTAS 2022.
– Other TCRTS news (vitality report, RTSS 2023 venue, Vice-Chair election).
– Awards: 2020 Test-of-Time Awards (certificates to all authors); Technical Service Award (plaque), all to be given at RTAS 2021, and certificates and plaque mailed directly.
– Sub-Committees presented a summary of their latest actions and plans for the remainder of the term.
Proposal: Ratification of 2021 Outstanding Achievement and Leadership Award
Date: 16 – 22 Apr 2021
Proposer: Special committee for the Outstanding Achievement and Leadership Award
Notes: The award committee proposed Lothar Thiele for the Outstanding Achievement and Leadership Award, and also recommended granting a Technical Service Award to Gerhard Fohler for his service to the real-time systems community in developing ECRTS into a first-tier conference.
Decision: ACCEPTED (Outstanding Achievement and Leadership Award – no explicit vote, Technical Service Award – super-majority). Both recipients accepted their awards.
Action: Produce Technical Committee Vitality Report for IEEE CS
Date: 7-9 Apr 2021
Proposer: Requirement from IEEE Computer Society Technical Activities and Conferences Board.
Notes: IEEE CS TAC requires, on a regular basis, a Vitality Report from its Technical Committees. The answers to the report questionnaire were discussed and agreed among the EC, with contributions made directly into a shared document
Proposal: Ratification of 2020 Test-of-Time awards
Date: 31 Mar – 2 Apr 2021
Proposer: Awards Sub-Committee
Notes: See https://cmte.ieee.org/tcrts/tcrts-tot-awards/ for a list of the awards. Citation were added to each award explaining its contribution. The regular timeline is as follows: (i) call for nominations in September, (ii) announcement of the Real-Time Systems Test-of-Time and RTSS Influential Paper awards at RTSS (in December), and (iii) announcement of the RTAS Influential paper award at RTAS (in April/May).
Decision: All awards were ratified, including extraordinarily four papers for the Real-Time Systems Test-of-Time Award. Exceptionally, it was agreed that all awards would be announced at RTAS 2021, enabling the 2021 awards to be announced at RTSS 2021 and RTAS 2022.
Proposal: Gather a list of industry contacts
Date: 15-18 Mar 2021
Proposer: Industry Outreach Sub-Committee
Notes: Produce a form to gather a list of industrial contacts willing to participate in TCRTS initiatives, be it TPCs of conferences, panels, or questionnaires about industrial perspectives. (Special participation of Benny Akesson who led the industry survey paper published at RTSS 2020). No concerns expressed or comments against.
Decision: ACCEPTED (no explicit vote).
Proposal: Selection of RTSS 2022 General Chair
Date: 2-5 Mar 2021
Proposer: Conferences Planning Sub-Committee
Notes: Shortlisted candidates (in alphabetical order): Gabriel Parmer, Liliana Cucu-Grosjean, Linh Phan.
Decision: After a formal vote of the EC, Liliana Cucu- Grosjean was invited (and accepted) to be RTSS 2022 General Chair.
Proposal: Selection of RTAS 2022 Program Chair
Date: 23-26 Feb 2021
Proposer: Conferences Planning Sub-Committee
Notes: Shortlisted candidates (in alphabetical order): Heechul Yun, Iain Bate, Sibin Mohan.
Decision: After a formal vote of the EC, Heechul Yun was invited and accepted to be RTAS 2022 Program Chair. Note, Nan Guan accepted the automatic invitation to be GC for RTAS 2022.
Proposal: Huawei’s multi-year flexible sponsorship
Date: 11-16 Feb 2021
Proposer: Industry Outreach Sub-Committee (Nan Guan) and Antonio Paolillo (Huawei)
Notes: Total USD 25,000, to be managed by the TCRTS EC (via Chair, VC, and Treasurer). No comments against or concerns raised.
Decision: ACCEPTED (no explicit vote).
Afternote: 11 Mar 2021 rejected by the higher management of Huawei.
Discussion: Test-of-Time awards regulations (2nd)
Date: 24-27 Nov 2020 (see also 16-23 Oct 2020 below)
Proposer: Awards Sub-Committee
Notes: Various refinements made to the regulations, relating to COIs and paper eligibility.
Decision: Final regulations and criteria delivered 17 Dec 2020.
Event: TCRTS open meeting at RTSS 2020
Date: 2 Dec 2020
Outline:
– Introducing the EC.
– Delivering the service awards.
– Presenting the upcoming conferences.
– News from the Sub-Committees.
Proposal: Selection of 2020 Test-of-Time Awards Committee (2nd)
Date: 24-27 Nov 2020 (see also 16-23 Oct 2020 below)
Proposer: Awards Sub-Committee
Notes: Revised candidate list proposed for the Test-of-Time Awards Committee (in alphabetical order): Al Mok, Bjorn Brandenburg, Chenyang Lu, Giorgio Buttazzo, Insup Lee, Isabelle Puaut, John Stankovic, Kang Shin, Lui Sha, Sanjoy Baruah, Sharon Hu, Tarek Abdelzhaer.
Decision: The following were selected and accepted roles on the Test-of-Time Awards Committee: Sanjoy Baruah (Chair), Bjorn Brandenburg, Giorgio Buttazzo, Isabelle Puaut.
Proposal: CL Liu eulogy in the TCRTS Obituary
Date: 23-25 Nov 2020
Proposer: Various EC members
Notes: Eulogy text defined via contributions from EC members who were his personal friends (see https://cmte.ieee.org/tcrts/member-recognition/obituary/).
Proposal: Ratification of RTSS 2021 Organizing Committee
Date: 19-23 Nov 2020
Proposer: Enrico Bini and Jian-Jia Chen (RTSS 2021 PC and GC)
Notes: See http://2021.rtss.org/organizers/). No disagreements or concerns raised.
Decision: ACCEPTED (no explicit vote).
Proposal: Selection of 2020 Test-of-Time Awards Committee
Date: 16-23 Oct 2020
Proposer: Awards Sub-Committee
Notes: The proposal was to set up a separate Test-of-Time Awards Committee. The rationale for this was that it gives flexibility in the composition of the committee and separates the awards decision from the EC, which seems more transparent. (The alternative would have been for the Awards Sub-Committee to make the decisions directly). List of candidates for the Test-of-Time Awards Committee initially proposed lacked sufficient diversity.
Decision: Process halted, candidate list returned to Awards Sub-Committee for further consideration.
Proposal: Selection of RTSS 2021 Program Chair
Date: 8-14 Oct 2020
Proposer: Conferences Planning Sub-Committee
Notes: Shortlisted candidates (in alphabetical order): Enrico Bini, Rodolfo Pellizzoni, Tulika Mitra.
Decision: After a formal vote of the EC, Enrico Bini was invited and accepted to be RTSS 2021 Program Chair.
Proposal: A new normal for conferences
Date: 29 Sept – 3 Oct 2020
Proposer: Conferences Planning Sub-Committee
Notes:
1. Free-of-Charge registration for non-author participants in virtual conferences (whenever financially viable). This enables everyone to participate in our virtual conferences irrespective of whether they have funding or not, making the conferences accessible to anyone with an internet connection. It further encourages participation from adjacent research domains and industry due to the removal of financial and administrative barriers to joining.
2. Trial period of 2 years of mandatory virtual TPC meetings. This opens up Program Committee membership to those who could not otherwise attend a physical TPC meeting due to financial, visa, family/care responsibilities, health, or any other reasons.
3. Trial period of 2 years of hybrid conferences as soon as the situation allows. Everyone (authors and other participants) will have the option of either physical or virtual attendance. This eliminates substantial barriers to access enabling diverse and underrepresented minority groups to fully participate in our conferences.
Decisions:
1. ACCEPTED (majority).
2. ACCEPTED (super-majority).
3. ACCEPTED (super-majority).
Afternote: From 2021, IEEE rules insist that at least a nominal charge is made for all participants.
Proposal: Houston as RTSS 2022 venue
Date: 23-25 Sept 2020
Proposer: Albert Cheng and Sharon Hu (RTSS 2020 LC and GC)
Notes: Since RTSS 2020 became a virtual conference, it would be appropriate to hold RTSS 2022 as a physical conference in Houston. This would have the advantage that much of the preparatory work could be reused rather than being wasted, and would give Houston its opportunity as host.
Decision: ACCEPTED (unanimous).
Proposal: Include invited Hot Topics Day papers in the RTSS proceedings
Date: 4 Sept 2020
Proposer: Sharon Hu and Jian-Jia Chen (RTSS 2020 GC and PC), and HTD Chairs
Notes: Concerns were expressed that this could adversely impact the perceived quality of the conference via having non-peer-reviewed papers in the proceedings. Also, the HTD invited papers could benefit more the organizers of each HTD event, rather than the event participants.
Decision: REJECTED (unanimous).
Proposal: RTSS 2020 to be a virtual conference
Date: 17-18 August 2020
Proposer: Jian-Jia Chen and Sharon Hu (RTSS 2020 PC and GC)
Notes: The COVID-19 situation in the USA and especially Houston has not shown signs of significant improvement. Strict social distancing requirements are in place at the hotel that would significantly impact the experience of participants. There are still significant travel restrictions in many parts of the world. Making an early decision to go virtual will allow time to properly prepare for the event.
Decision: ACCEPTED (unanimous).
Proposal: Diversity Actions (6 sub proposals)
Date: 9 July 2020
Proposer: Diversity Sub-Committee
Notes.
1. Completing the IEEE CS diversity statement in the TCRTS webpage
2. Virtual reception if RTSS 2020 becomes a virtual conference.
3. Removing barriers to participation in TPC meetings by permitting a mix of virtual and physical attendance at physical TPC meetings.
4. Form to self-nominate as TPC member on the TCRTS webpage
5. Maintaining a list of researchers belonging to Under Represented Minorities.
6. Form to self-nominate as Program Chair or General Chair on the TCRTS webpage
Decisions:
1. ACCEPTED (unanimous).
2. ACCEPTED (unanimous).
3. UNDECIDED (undecided).
4. ACCEPTED (unanimous).
5. ACCEPTED (unanimous).
6. ACCEPTED (super-majority).
Proposal: General Chairs are specifically not permitted to personally sign / take liability for contracts for RTSS
Date: 9 July 2020
Proposer: Robert Davis (RTSS 2019 GC)
Notes: Recommendation from RTSS 2019 General Chair final report. The rationale is to avoid General Chairs being put in a difficult position when the long duration of the IEEE contract process jeopardizes reaching agreement with the venue.
Decision: ACCEPTED (no explicit vote).
Proposal: Add Track Deputies to help manage each track of RTSS 2020
Date: 6-8 July 2020 (See also 13-17 Apr 2020)
Proposer: Jian-Jia Chen (RTSS 2020 PC)
Notes: No disagreements or concerns expressed.
Decision: ACCEPTED (no explicit vote).
Proposal: Ratification of RTAS 2021 Organizing Committee
Date: 1-5 Jun 2020
Proposer: Nan Guan (RTAS 2021 PC)
Notes: Proposed appointments to Track 2 Chair, Brief Presentations Chair, Publicity Chair, Web Chair, and Artefact Evaluation Chair (see http://2021.rtas.org/organizers/).
Decision: ACCEPTED (no explicit vote).
Proposal: Selection of venue for RTSS 2021 by the EC
Date: 11-22 May 2020
Proposer: TCRTS EC Chair and Conferences Planning Sub-Committee
Notes: Given that the opportunities to choose the venue for RTSS 2021 by popular vote (at RTSS 2019 and RTAS 2020) became non-viable the proposal is that the EC carries out the selection this time. The Conferences Planning Sub-committee recommended this selection process on a one-off basis (not a precedent) and prepared a pack including proforma financial spreadsheet and presentation template for candidate hosts to use in their bid. Candidate hosts prepared 10-minute videos which were made available to the EC.
Decision: First round was a tie between Singapore and Taipei. Second round, votes for Seoul were redistributed leading to selection of Taipei as the host for RTSS 2021.
Proposal: Independent Appointment of Program Chair and General Chair for RTSS
Date: 4-8 May 2020
Proposer: Robert Davis (RTSS 2019 GC)
Notes: This is so that the RTSS Program Chair is not automatically the General Chair for the next year. The rationale is to avoid unreasonable levels of workload over a 2-year time frame due to the significant requirements of both roles and the overlapping timeframes involved. The two roles require different expertise and skillsets, thus the pools of candidates for them, while likely to overlap, are also expected to have some differences. Invitations to be Program Chair will no longer be conditional on accepting to be General Chair for the subsequent year, they will be for the Program Chair role only. Invitations to be General Chair will be made only once it is known where the conference will take place. Selection of General Chair will take place in a similar way to selection of the Program Chair with the Conferences Planning Sub-committee providing a shortlist of candidates and the TCRTS EC voting on the final selection. (Note this does not impact appointments for RTAS, since the majority of what would otherwise be the responsibility of the General Chair is handled by the overarching CPS-IoT Week organization).
Decision: ACCEPTED (unanimous).
Proposal: Only charge students the student registration rate for conferences
Date: 27-30 Apr 2020
Proposer: Robert Davis (RTSS 2019 GC)
Notes: Only charge students the student registration rate for conferences (even if they are the only author of a paper that is registering for the conference). Previously done by joint agreement of General, Finance, and Program Chairs for RTSS 2018 and 2019. Rationale is fairness and transparency. Pay-to-publish is the wrong message. The cost differential full vs. student registration is typically approx. USD 300 whereas publication costs are approx. USD 50 per paper.
Decision: ACCEPTED (unanimous).
Proposal: Career Award Ceremonies for 2019 and 2020 awards at RTSS 2020 and RTAS 2021
Date: 21-24 Apr 2020
Proposer: Awards Sub-Committee
Notes: Two options: (A) both awards presented at RTSS 2020. (B) 2019 award presented at RTSS 2020 and 2020 award presented at RTAS 2021. The rationale for (B) was to have one ceremony per conference and hence one award speech, since this then has more impact.
Decision: (B) ACCEPTED (super-majority).
Proposals for RTSS 2020 program-related Organizing Committee
13-17 Apr 2020
Proposer: Jian-Jia Chen (RTSS 2020 Program Chair)
Notes:
#1 to delay the submission deadline until early July and update the timeline accordingly.
#2 to nominate a Track Chair for Track 1 (so the Program Chair would supervise but not chair a track) and 3 Track Secretaries to help managing the program process.
Decision: #1 ACCEPTED (super-majority), #2 SUSPENDED (undecided) further clarification required on how the Program Chair and Track Chairs would interact. (Jian-Jia Chen to discuss with Conference Planning Sub-Committee Chair. Note this was resolved 6-8 July 2020 by adding Track Deputies with the Program Chair continuing to have a role as a Track Chair).
Proposal for RTAS 2021 Program Chair
24 Feb-3 Mar 2020
Proposer: Conferences Planning Sub-committee
Notes: Candidates proposed were: Claire Pagetti, Marko Bertogna, Nan Guan
Decision: Following a formal vote of the EC, Nan Guan was invited to be Program Chair and Claire Pagetti was invited to be Track Chair. Both accepted the appointments.
Proposal for RTSS Program Committee meetings (to apply to RTSS 2020)
Date: 18-20 Feb 2020
Proposer: Rob Davis, Sharon Hu, Gabriel Parmer (RTSS 2019 GC, PC, FC)
Notes: Detailed proposal is to disallow stand-alone TPC meetings, instead TPC meetings should be co-located with another related conference whenever possible, otherwise run as a virtual meeting.
Decision: ACCEPTED (unanimous). Decision to be revisited when we have more experience with online meetings.
Proposal to organize special sessions for RTSS 2019 papers at sister conferences
Date: 11-12 Feb 2020
Proposer: Robert Davis, Sharon Hu, Liliana Cucu, Enrico Bini (RTSS 2019 GC, PC, Track Chair etc.)
Notes: Strong consensus in constructive and positive discussion.
Decision: ACCEPTED (no explicit vote). Proposers to action.
Executive Committee formed and composition communicated
Date: 10 Feb 2020
Notes: EC members appointed (in alphabetical order): Aloysius Mok, Björn Brandenburg, Chris Gill, Chenyang Lu, Dakai Zhu, Daniel Mosse, Enrico Bini, Giorgio Buttazzo, Harini Ramaprasad, Insik Shin, Isabelle Puaut, Kang Shin, Liliana Cucu-Grosjean, Marko Bertogna, Martina Maggio, Nan Guan, Nathan Fisher, Richard West, Robert Davis, Tei-Wei Kuo, Tulika Mitra, Thomas Nolte. (See also https://cmte.ieee.org/tcrts/committees/).
Footnote: Publishing transparent information about TCRTS Executive Committee activities was proposed by Robert Davis and agreed by Luis Almeida and Chris Gill (TCRTS EC Chair and Vice-Chair 2020-2021). All three worked to produce the first version of this webpage in Sept 2021.