CPS: Small: Real-time, Simulation-based Planning and Asynchronous Coordination for Cyber-Physical Systems

CPS：小型：实时，基于仿真的规划和异步协调网络物理系统该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该研究的目标是调查如何用计算智能取代人类决策，其规模在制造，运输，电力系统和生物传感器等应用之前和应用中是不可能的。该方法是建立在算法运动规划，传感器网络和其他领域的最新贡献，以确定一般的解决方案，规划和协调网络的信息物理systems.The项目的智力价值在于定义一个规划框架，它集成了模拟，利用其预测能力，并侧重于实时规划问题的安全问题。该框架扩展到异步协调，利用分布式约束优化协议和处理不一致的状态估计网络代理。因此，该项目解决了复杂系统经常缺乏良好的数学模型，动态和部分可观察环境的挑战，以及在大规模网络上同步和维护多个设备的统一全球状态估计的困难。更广泛的影响涉及新算法和开源软件的开发和传播。研究成果将被整合到教学工作和本科生将参与研究。代表性不足的群体将被鼓励参与，沿着来自内华达州戴维森学院的学生，这是一所为天才学生开设的免费公立高中。 在社会层面，该项目将有助于实现灵活的生产车间，自动化运输基础设施，自主向患者提供药物，并减轻电网的连锁故障。 与领域专家的合作将有助于实现这一影响。

CPS:Small: Real-time, Simulation-based Planning and Asynchronous Coordination for Cyber-Physical SystemsThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The objective of this research is to investigate how to replace human decision-making with computational intelligence at a scale not possible before and in applications such as manufacturing, transportation, power-systems and bio-sensors. The approach is to build upon recent contributions in algorithmic motion planning, sensor networks and other fields so as to identify general solutions for planning and coordination in networks of cyber-physical systems.The intellectual merit of the project lies in defining a planning framework, which integrates simulation to utilize its predictive capabilities, and focuses on safety issues in real-time planning problems. The framework is extended to asynchronous coordination by utilizing distributed constraint optimization protocols and dealing with inconsistent state estimates among networked agents. Thus, the project addresses the frequent lack of well-behaved mathematical models for complex systems, the challenges of dynamic and partially-observable environments, and the difficulties in synchronizing and maintaining a unified, global world state estimate for multiple devices over a large-scale network.The broader impact involves the development and dissemination of new algorithms and open-source software. Research outcomes will be integrated to teaching efforts and undergraduate students will be involved in research. Underrepresented groups will be encouraged to participate, along with students from the Davidson Academy of Nevada, a free public high school for gifted students. At a societal level, this project will contribute towards achieving flexible manufacturing floors, automating the transportation infrastructure, autonomously delivering drugs to patients and mitigating cascading failures of the power network. Collaboration with domain experts will assist in realizing this impact.