A Logical Framework for Self-Optimizing Networked Cyber-Physical Systems

Abstract:

The objective of this research is to develop foundations for the newly emerging generation of Networked Cyber-Physical Systems (NCPS). NCPS present many intellectual challenges not suitably addressed by existing computing paradigms. They must achieve system-wide objectives through local, asynchronous actions, using distributed control loops through the environment. A key challenge is to develop a robust computational foundation that supports a wide spectrum of system operation between autonomy and cooperation to adapt to uncertainties, changes, failures, and resource constraints, in particular to limitations of computational, energy, and networking resources. In this project we conduct parallel research at different levels of abstraction with the unifying goal to develop principles, foundations, and tools for design and implementation of NCPS that can be employed in critical applications and challenging environments.  Central to our work is the idea that our approach should cover a virtually continuous spectrum of distributed system operating points ranging from autonomous operation to cooperative and competitive behavior depending on the communication capabilities and resource limitations. The underlying computational model, the partially or- dered knowledge sharing model, which has been documented in the previousyears, has been recently extended by giving it a probabilistic semantics. On top of this model for loosely coupled distributed computation we have developed a distributed logic (with a notion of distributed proofs) together with distributed control and optimization strategies to enable local actions to maintain or improve the satisfaction of system goals. During the course of this project we have developed an open-source software framework, the cyber-application framework, that serves as a prototypical implementation of our models and we have built a NCPS testbed at SRI consisting of PDAs (Android devices), robots (iRobot Create) and UAVs (Parrot AR drones). The software framework supports both simulation and deployment of NCPS applications and is available at our project web site ncps.csl.sri.com. The results of this project are expected to have a variety of applications including distributed surveillance, instrumented pervasive spaces, crisis response, medical systems, green buildings, self-assembling structures, networked space/satellite missions, and distributed critical infrastructure monitoring and control.

  • 0932397
  • National CPS PI Meeting 2013
  • Poster
  • Academia
  • CPS PI Poster Session
Submitted by Minyoung Kim on