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

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

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.