CSR-EHCS(CPS),TM: Architectures, Abstractions and Algorithms for Cyber-Physical Networks

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Cyber-physical networks (CPNs) are tight integrations of computational and physical components with interactions and interdependencies that are much more varied and complex than what occurs in traditional monitoring and control systems. Building on research in software architectures, this project will develop a proof of concept for a novel architecture description language with annotations and views that will provide a unified framework for the design of CPNs. Initial algorithms that leverage the structural features of component-based architectural descriptions of CPNs will also be developed and demonstrated. Using environmental monitoring and control of buildings as the target application domain, existing formalisms and methods will be extended to incorporate a wider set of cyber-physical features aimed at supporting compositional analysis and verification. Prototype design algorithms will be developed in the context of new performance metrics that capture critical features and design tradeoffs among the objectives and constraints for computation, communication and control in CPNs. The concept of networks of verification and design problems derived from multiple views of CPN architectures will also be developed, making it possible to assess and leverage tradeoffs that cut across current cyber-physical boundaries created by disparate mathematical formalisms and dissimilar methodologies in engineering and computer science. As a proof of concept, methods will be developed to compose and iterate verification and design results over a restricted class of networks of interdependent abstractions and problems. These preliminary results will be applied and evaluated in the context of the design of energy efficient buildings. This research will lay the foundations for developing a general set of architectural tools and algorithms for the compositional analysis, design, and verification of CPNs.