Foundations for Flow-based Cyber-Physical Systems

Abstract:

Recent developments in nanostructures manufacturing, sensing and wireless networking, will soon enable us to deploy Flow‐based Cyber‐Physical Systems equipped with sensing and actuation capabilities for a broad range of applications. Some of these applications will be safety critical, including water distribution monitoring (i.e., critical national infrastructure systems particularly vulnerable to a variety of attacks, including contamination with deadly agents) and interventional medicine (i.e., a medical branch that makes use of tiny devices introduced in a living body through small incisions, to detect and treat diseases). The goal of this project is to advance our fundamental understanding, through a robust mathematical framework, of emerging field of Flow‐based Cyber‐Physical System. In this first year of the project we have focused on developing the foundations for Cyber‐Physical system (CPS) for continuous monitoring of a Water Distribution System (WDS), or CPWDS. WDS monitoring has been typically achieved by costly, complex, static sensors that are strategically placed. To reduce the cost of monitoring, we developed mobile sensors that reside in the CPWDS and move with the flow of water in pipes; mobile sensors communicate with static beacons placed outside the pipes, and report sensed data; the flows in the pipes are controlled to prevent sensors from getting stuck and to ensure the sensors cover the main pipes of the WDS. We developed the first complete architectural design, algorithms, and protocols for optimal monitoring of CPWDS. Our proposed solution includes sensing and communication models,  MAC and group management protocols for sensor and beacon communication, and algorithms for sensor and beacon placement. We evaluated the proposed algorithms/protocols for the communication, computation and control of the CPWDS and demonstrate their performance through extensive simulations.