This project aims to build a framework for identifying, analyzing and defending against timing attacks in cyber-physical systems. Timing attacks, where attackers attempt to compromise the timing of computation or communication operations, can be particularly destructive in a CPS because the correctness of system functionality is affected not only by the data values of operations but also by the time those operations are conducted.

This first-year project will develop a cyber-physical co-design process and apply it to the manufacturing of large-scale libraries of synthetic DNA oligonucleotides. Synthetic DNA plays an essential role in genomics research, and is poised for widespread consumption if its costs can be lowered dramatically, as large libraries of different DNA sequences are particularly useful in genetic analysis. DNA is also being investigated as a high-density medium for archival storage of digital data.

The objective of this project is to formulate and validate a methodology for creating secure algorithms in cyber-physical systems. The algorithms must be secure even when the devices do not trust each other.  A typical CPS is composed of many devices, each with both a cyber component and a physical component, interacting in a common physical system and communicating with their neighbors.  The devices may be malicious and provide false information or fail to take actions as claimed, or the communication channel may be compromised.

Battery-free sensors are annually attached to billions of items including pharmaceutical drugs, clothes, and manufacturing parts. The fundamental challenge with these sensors is that they are only reliable at short distances. As a result, today’s systems for communicating with and localizing battery-free sensors are crippled by the limited range. This research proposes a cyber-physical system architecture that can overcome this challenge to enable sensing, communicating with, and localizing these sensors at an unprecedented scale.

Molecular programming uses the computational power of DNA and other biomolecules to create nanoscale systems. Many of these envisioned nano-systems are safety-critical, such as diagnostic biosensors that detect contam-inants, drug capsules that dispense medicine when they encounter diseased cells, and configurable nano-robots. Challenges to the safety engineering of the nano-systems include their probabilistic behavior, their very small size, the very large number of them that execute at once, and the dynamic envi-ronment in which they operate.

This project develops a theoretical framework as well as software tools to support testing and verification of a Cyber-Physical System (CPS) within a Model-Based Design (MBD) process. The theoretical bases of the framework are stochastic optimization methods, and robustness notions of formal specification languages.

The internet-of-things (IoT) revolution is bringing millions of physical devices online (e.g. cars, UAVs, homes, medical devices), enabling them to connect to each other in real-time, as well as to cloud services. Wireless communication will be critical in providing IoT connectivity. This work focuses on low-latency and ultra-reliable communications and networking that is critical for latency-sensitive, closed-loop control applications, like vehicle to vehicle communications, collaborative swam planning, and industrial control.