Automated Support for Cyber-Physical Systems Design: from Theory to Practice

背景我们的社会依赖于网络物理系统（CPS）。CPS是软件密集型系统，与其物理环境进行广泛的交互。我们的大多数行业，包括汽车、能源和医疗保健，都依赖CPS进行日常运营。例如，CPS监控我们的汽车、发电厂和医疗设备。根据《2020年行业研究CPS市场报告》，2019年全球CPS市场收入为524亿美元，2025年将达到896亿美元。 尽管最近的投资和改进，CPS设计仍然是复杂的，容易出错，因此，昂贵的。例如，美国国防部估计，F-35战斗机的Block 4升级成本在2020年达到144亿美元，该升级旨在提高飞机应对新兴威胁的能力。此外，CPS故障也可能是灾难性的。例如，在2018年至2019年期间，波音737 MAX的缺陷导致346人死亡。研究挑战。工程师需要CPS设计的自动化支持。研究界已经投入了大量的精力来开发支持CPS设计的自动化技术。尽管取得了许多成功，但仍然存在许多挑战，阻碍了这些技术在实践中的广泛使用，特别是对于工业模型。该研究计划考虑了四个研究挑战：（N1）需要搜索和检测CPS设计中的缺陷的自动化技术，（N2）需要帮助理解问题的原因，（N3）需要自动将人类人工产物（例如CPS要求）转换为机器可处理的输入的过程，以及（N4）需要支持工程师对CPS设计进行不同分析的综合工具。目标.我的研究计划将通过定义新颖的软件工程解决方案来支持工程师开发安全的CPS。为了实现这一长期目标，该计划考虑了四个短期目标，每个目标都针对一个研究挑战：（O 1）开发方法来识别CPS设计中的缺陷，（O2）开发方法来解释缺陷的原因，（O3）开发方法来将人类工件转换为机器可处理的格式，以及（O 4）开发整体方法来整合所提出的解决方案。目标O 1，O2，O3和O 4将分别通过开发新的基于证伪的测试技术，调试技术，基于模式的语言，以及对CPS设计进行不同分析的综合工具来实现。拟议研究的影响。这项研究将为加拿大带来显著的社会经济效益：所提出的技术将使更安全、更可靠的CPS的生产具有成本效益。它将巩固加拿大作为CPS设计全球领导者之一的地位，并建立加拿大大学和CPS行业之间的协同效应。

Background. Our society relies on cyber-physical systems (CPS). CPS are software-intensive systems that extensively interact with their physical environment. Most of our industries, including automotive, energy, and healthcare, rely on CPS for their daily operations. For example, CPS monitor and control our cars, power plants, and medical devices. According to the 2020 Industry Research CPS Market Report, in 2019 the global CPS market revenue was USD 52.4 billion and will reach USD 89.6 billion in 2025. Despite recent investments and improvements, CPS design is still complex, error-prone and, therefore, expensive. For example, the U.S. Defense Department estimates that the cost of the Block4 upgrade of the F-35 combat aircraft, which aims to improve the capabilities of the aircraft to counter emerging threats, reached USD 14.4 billion in 2020. In addition, CPS failures can also be catastrophic. For example, between 2018 and 2019, a defect in the Boeing 737 MAX resulted in the deaths of 346 people. Research Challenges. Engineers need automated support for CPS design. The research community has invested significant effort in developing automated techniques that support CPS design. Despite many successes, there are still many challenges that prevent extensive usage of these techniques in practice, especially for industrial models. This research program considers four research challenges: (N1) the need for automated techniques that search and detect flaws in the CPS design, (N2) the need for help in understanding the causes of the problems, (N3) the need for procedures that automatically translate human artifacts, such as CPS requirements, into machine-processable inputs, and (N4) the need for comprehensive tools that support engineers in running different analysis on the CPS design. Objectives. My research program will support engineers in developing safe CPS by defining novel software engineering solutions. To pursue this long term goal, this program considers four short term objectives, each targeting one of the research challenges: (O1) develop approaches to identify flaws in the CPS design, (O2) develop approaches to explain the causes of flaws, (O3) develop approaches to translate human artifacts into a machine-processable format, and (O4) develop holistic approaches to integrate the proposed solutions. Objectives O1, O2, O3, and O4 will be respectively achieved by developing novel falsification-based testing techniques, debugging techniques, pattern-based languages, and comprehensive tools running different analysis on the CPS design. Impact of Proposed Research. This research will provide remarkable socio-economical benefits to Canada: The proposed techniques will enable the cost-effective production of safer and more reliable CPS. It will consolidate Canada as one of the worldwide leaders in CPS design and build synergies between Canadian Universities and CPS industries.