The objective of this project is to research tools to manage uncertainty in the design and certification process of safety-critical aviation systems. The research focuses on three innovative ideas to support this objective. First, probabilistic techniques will be introduced to specify system-level requirements and bound the performance of dynamical components. These will reduce the design costs associated with complex aviation systems consisting of tightly integrated components produced by many independent engineering organizations. Second, a framework will be created for developing software components that use probabilistic execution to model and manage the risk of software failure. These techniques will make software more robust, lower the cost of validating code changes, and allow software quality to be integrated smoothly into overall system-level analysis. Third, techniques from Extreme Value Theory will be applied to develop adaptive verification and validation procedures. This will enable early introduction of new and advanced aviation systems. These systems will initially have restricted capabilities, but these restrictions will be gradually relaxed as justified by continual logging of data from in-service products. The three main research aims will lead to a significant reduction in the costs and time required for fielding new aviation systems. This will enable, for example, the safe and rapid implementation of next generation air traffic control systems that have the potential of tripling airspace capacity with no reduction in safety. The proposed methods are also applicable to other complex systems including smart power grids and automated highways. Integrated into the research is an education plan for developing a highly skilled workforce capable of designing safety critical systems. This plan centers around two main activities: (a) creation of undergraduate labs focusing on safety-critical systems, and (b) integration of safety-critical concepts into a national robotic snowplow competition. These activities will provide inspirational, real-world applications to motivate student learning.

Buildings in the U.S. contribute to 39% of energy use, consume approximately 70% of the electricity, and account for 39% of CO2 emissions. Hence, developing green building architectures is an extremely critical component in energy sustainability. The investigators will develop a unified analytical approach for green building design that comprehensively manages energy sustainability by taking into account the complex interactions between these systems of systems, providing a high degree of security, agility and robust to extreme events. The project will serve to advance the general science in CPS, help bridge the gap between the cyber and civil infrastructure communities, educate students across different disciplines, include topics in curriculum development, and actively recruit underrepresented minority and undergraduate students. The main thesis of this research is that ad hoc green energy designs are often myopic, not taking into account key interdependencies between subsystems and users, and thus often lead to undesirable solutions. In fact, studies have shown that 28%-35% of LEED-certified buildings consumed more energy than their conventional counterparts, all of which calls for the development of a comprehensive analytical foundation for designing green buildings. In particular, the investigators will focus on three interrelated thrust areas: (i) Integrated energy management for a single-building, where the goal is to jointly consider the complex interactions among building subsystems. The investigators will develop novel control schemes that opportunistically exploit the energy demand elasticity of the building subsystems and adapt to occupancy patterns, human comfort zones, and ambient environments. (ii) Managing multi-building interactions to develop (near) optimal distributed control and coordination schemes that provide performance guarantees. (iii) Designing for anomalous conditions such as extreme weather and malicious attacks, where power grid connections and/or cyber-networks are disrupted. The research will provide directions at developing an analytical foundation and cross-cutting principles that will shed insight on the design and control of not only building systems, but also general CPS systems. An important goal is to help bridge the gap between the networking, controls, and civil infrastructure communities by giving talks and publishing works in all of these forums. The investigators will disseminate the research findings to industry as well as offer education and outreach programs to the K-12 students in STEM disciplines. The investigators will also actively continue their already strong existing efforts in recruiting women and underrepresented minorities, as well as providing rich research experience to undergraduate REU students. This project will provide fertile training for students spanning civil infrastructure research, networking, controls, optimization, and algorithmic development. The investigators will also actively include the outcomes of the research in existing and new courses at both the Ohio State University and Virginia Tech.