Collaborative Research: CSR-CPS: Multi-Level Heterogeneity in Large-Scale Cyber-Physical Systems

这项研究集中在定义网络物理系统(CPS)体系结构的最基本的问题之一-异构性。与通常为了功能互操作性而解决异构性的因特网不同，CPS系统通常被视为系统的专用系统，主要为需要全球监管和性能保证的关键基础设施而设计。因此，不仅要解决功能互操作的异构性问题，而且要解决策略规范和性能保证的问题。为了解决功能互操作问题，提出了一种称为CPS-Bus的分布式框架，用于灵活地互连不同的CPS子系统。为了支持策略规范，开发了一种策略描述语言来规范上下文、操作和规则之间的关系。为了在异构子系统上实现性能保证，发明了一种新的反射接口和分布式控制框架的运行时组合，以应对不断变化的性能动态和所需的随需应变的功能(组成)变化。这项工作将使计算过程和物理过程有效地相互联系，揭示不同现象之间的有用关联，并对CPS子系统的边界进行有效控制。对于开发人员来说，这项工作将显著降低构建CPS系统的设计和开发成本。对于终端用户来说，由此产生的CPS系统将带来令人兴奋的应用，如辅助生活，这将从根本上改善日常生活的质量。

This research focuses on one of the most fundamental issues that defines the architecture of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) - heterogeneity. Unlike the Internet where heterogeneity is normally addressed for the sake of functional interoperability, CPS systems are normally regarded as special-purpose systems of systems, designed mostly for critical infrastructures that require global regulation and performance assurance. Therefore, heterogeneity must be addressed not only for the sake of functional interoperability, but also for policy regulation and performance assurance.To address functional interoperability, a distributed framework, called the CPS-Bus, is proposed to flexibly interconnect different CPS subsystems. To support policy regulation, a policy specification language is developed to regulate the relationship between context, operation and rules. To achieve performance assurance over heterogeneous subsystems, a novel run-time combination of reflective interfaces and a distributed control framework is invented to address evolving performance dynamics and required on-demand functional (compositional) changes. This work will allow the effective interconnection of computation and physical processes to reveal the useful correlations among different phenomena and to conduct effective control across the boundary of CPS subsystems. For developers, this work will significantly reduce the design and development costs for building CPS systems. For end users, the resultant CPS systems will lead to exciting applications such as assisted living that will fundamentally improve the quality of every-day life.