Message from the program and track chairs

The 19th IEEE Real-Time and Embedded Technology and Applications Symposium (RTAS 2013) was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, as part of the Cyber-Physical Systems Week. The scope of RTAS has been defined by its four tracks: Track 1 on Applications, Systems, RTOSs, and Tools; Track 2 on Applied Methodologies and Foundations, that is, on basic methodologies and algorithms that are applicable to real systems to solve specific problems; Track 3 on Wireless Sensor Networks; and Track 4 on Hardware-Software Co-design, including design methodologies and tools for hardware/software integration. Papers submitted to all tracks were required to clearly define motivating application examples and include a section reporting experimental results with a real implementation of the proposed system, or showing the applicability to an industrial case study or working system. This year´s edition continues a steady growth in attractiveness and quality. Overall, 96 submissions were received. It was a hard and long process to select 28 papers, which are compiled in this volume. All submissions received at least four reviews, resulting in an overall number of more than 400 reviews - involving more than 160 reviewers - being conducted. An important piece of the process was the Program Committee meeting, which was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in conjunction with RTSS 2012.