Workshop on Remote Access Cyber-Physical Testbeds, Arlington, VA, November 12-13, 2015

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Currently, experimental work on cyber-physical systems is done largely in isolation, and there is a significant gap between the theoretical foundations that are being broadly pursued, and a focused, application-driven transition onto actual experimental platforms. This gap is both scientific and practical in that it takes significant resources to develop and maintain a research testbed. The workshop will explore the use of remote access testbeds as a way of remedying this problem by getting researchers to come together around a shared platform, lowering the barrier-to-entry in cyber-physical systems research, and ensuring that practical relevance is an achievable goal to a larger group of cyber-physical systems researchers. In fact, the establishment of networks of remote access testbeds would provide researchers access to shared, experimental platforms. As a consequence, advances in the field are expected to accelerate greatly through a collection of research testbeds that can be used by researchers, educators, and students all over the country, without incurring prohibitive costs associated with setting up and maintaining the actual research facilities. The establishment of networks of remote access testbeds would provide researchers with access to state-of-the-art experimental, thereby accelerating advances in the field. In fact, by going beyond the standard, isolated research endeavors, the power of a community of researchers working together could be unleashed, with the potential to produce a whole that is significantly greater than the sum of its parts. As a consequence, one cannot predict all the research outcomes that will be enabled by such an endeavor. The proposed workshop will investigate and discuss challenges associated with the establishment and maintenance of such remote access, cyber-physical testbeds, including robotics, power and energy, transportation, and smart buildings testbeds. Ultimately, the workshop has four distinct objectives: (1) Articulate an over-arching vision for how remote access cyber-physical testbeds should be structured and organized; (2) Identify existing efforts across different disciplines; (3) Gather stakeholders to form a critical mass of people committed to the idea of remote access testbeds; and (4) Identify challenges that need to be overcome for remote access testbeds to reach their full potential. The outcome of the workshop is the production of a report that addresses the aforementioned workshop objectives and that will be disseminated broadly.