Abstract: Electrification of the transportation market offers revenue growth for utility companies and automobile manufacturers, lower operational costs for consumers, and benefits to the environment. However, even moderate penetration of PEVs will stress the power grid. This project formulates and solves optimization problems critical to various entities in the PEV ecosystem -- PEV owners, commercial charging station owners, aggregators, and distribution companies -- at the distribution / retail level.

Abstract: This project focuses on modern buildings as a natural expression of a cyber-­‐physical system, with many features that are typical to such systems. Modern buildings exhibit a tight integration of sensing, computation, and actuation within multiple physical domains. For example, larger buildings usually contain a sensor network, with a variety of sensors that measure power flow, temperature, relative humidity, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.

Abstract: Traditionally, buildings have been viewed as mere energy consumers; however, with the new power grid infrastructure and distributed energy resources, buildings can not only consume energy, but they can also output energy. As a result, this project removes traditional boundaries between buildings in the same cluster or between the cluster and power grids, transforming individual smart buildings into NetZero building clusters enabled by cyber-support tools.

Abstract: The Boolean Microgrid (BM) emulates the Internet by supplying discrete power and discrete data over a network link that follows Boolean logic and is not continuous as in a conventional 60-Hz-ac or dc microgrid. BM is thus a highly integrated cyber-physical system (CPS) that features the convergence of control, communication and the physical plant.

Abstract: The American Society of Civil Engineers’ recent report on US infrastructure estimates that a $2.2 trillion investment would be needed to bring them up to par. An estimated 30% of the nation’s 10,000 steel railroad bridges and 600,000 highway bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete or both. Currently, most bridge inspections are visual only, which has been shown to be ineffective in identifying problems. Acoustic Emission (AE) testing is a comprehensive and effective way of detecting structural damage.

Abstract: The objective of this research is to create 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.

Abstract: This project is developing methods for human context awareness in smart buildings, aging-in-place, smart authorization, and emergency response. We enable this using inference using radio frequency (RF) sensing networks, in which channel measurements are made by deployed wireless networking devices. In RF sensing networks, the network is the sensor. We are developing methods to learn human context for smart facilities and elder care, including:

Abstract: This project addresses architectural considerations in the design and operation of future power grids. This includes the consideration of sophisticated sensing, communication, and actuation capabilities on the system's reliability, price volatility, and economic and environmental efficiency.

Abstract:  Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a paradigm for learning decision- making tasks that could enable cyber-physical systems (CPS) to learn and adapt to situations on-line. For an RL algorithm to be practical for CPS control tasks, it must learn in very few samples, while continually taking actions in real-time. In addition, the algorithm must learn effi- ciently in the face of noise, sensor/actuator delays and continuous state features. We describe TEXPLORE, a model-based RL method that ad- dresses these issues.

Abstract: The electric power grid is a complex cyber-physical system (CPS), whose reliable and secure operation is of paramount importance to national security and economic vitality. There is a growing and evolving threat of cyber-based attacks, both in numbers and sophistication, on the nation’s critical infrastructures. Therefore, cyber security – encompassing attack prevention, detection, mitigation, and resilience – is critical in today’s power grid and the emerging smart grid.