Call for Papers

Topics of Interest:
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

-Automated static and dynamic firmware testing and analysis tools;
-AI-assisted firmware testing and analysis;
-(AI-enhanced) firmware maintenance and evolution;
-(AI-assisted) firmware security vulnerability detection and/or mitigation;
-Empirical studies, surveys, case studies, and lessons learned from the industry;
-Open reference datasets and benchmarks that enable future research in this area.

Submission Guidelines:
Paper Categories:

FTA 2026 accepts five categories of submissions:

-Technical Papers / Research Papers / Surveys (up to 18 pages + 2 pages for references): Original research contributions presenting novel techniques, tools, substantial empirical findings, or surveys.
-Industry & Experience Reports (up to 12 pages + 2 pages for references): Practical experiences, lessons learned, and case studies from industrial firmware development or analysis.
-Short Papers / New Ideas and Emerging Results / Work-in-Progress (up to 8 pages + 2 pages for references): Preliminary results, emerging novel and ground-breaking ideas that lack full validation, or position statements.
-Tool papers (up to 5 pages + 2 pages for references): Tool demonstrations
-Extended Abstracts (up to 4 pages, including references): These will accompany posters presented at the workshop’s poster session. Accepted extended abstracts will be published in the proceedings.

Formatting:

-Submissions must use the ACM Master Article template (acmart).
-LaTeX authors should use \documentclass[acmsmall,screen,review,anonymous]{acmart}. Note that this is a single-column format.
-Papers must be written in English and submitted as a PDF.
-All submissions will be reviewed double-blind; author names and affiliations must be omitted.
-Except for extended abstracts, which must be 4 pages, including all references; for other submission types, references do not count toward the page limit, and 2 extra pages are allowed for references.
-The above-mentioned page limits include space for all content, such as appendices, figures, and tables.
-Authors must comply with all ACM policies, including the policies on the use of generative AI. See https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/frequently-asked-questions.
-Submissions that do not adhere to the guidelines may be desk-rejected without review.

Submission System:

Papers must be submitted via HotCRP at https://fta26.hotcrp.com before the submission deadline.

Publication:
All accepted papers will be made Open Access by ACM. Article processing charges may apply. See https://www.acm.org/publications/openaccess.

Presentation:
At least one author of every accepted paper must register for the workshop and present the work in person. Otherwise, the submission may be withdrawn and not published in the proceedings. FTA 2026 is an in-person event.

Websites:
Workshop Website: https://conf.researchr.org/home/splash-issta-2026/fta-2026
TianoShield Project Website: https://tianoshield.github.io/home/events

Contact:
For questions about the workshop or submissions, please contact the organizers at: amoin@uccs.edu and amachiry@purdue.edu

Acknowledgments:
The FTA 2026 workshop is sponsored by ACM and uses SIGPLAN’s standard submission and reviewing terms. Moreover, this event is organized as part of the TianoShield project, which is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. 2534021. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this event are those of the authors/speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.