The automation level in the manufacturing domain, power and energy systems as well as logistics applications increase steadily resulting in a higher system complexity. Actuators, sensors and control devices from different vendors have to work together with supervisory control and management systems, often in heterogeneous communication environments. The management and automation software used in these areas has to deal more and more with a complex structure of distributed and autonomously acting devices.

Recent trends in research and development indicate that these devices are becoming increas-ingly intelligent so that they can perform tasks autonomously, and are usually equipped with computing resources. In order to master the complexity of such highly interconnected and collaborative devices that can be considered as “Distributed Intelligent Systems,” advanced methods and concepts encompassing their life cycle of planning/engineering, operation, and reconfiguration/adaptation are needed.

This special session focuses on the following recent research results, trends, and practical developments of intelligent real-time automation and agent-based system.