eNetworks in an increasingly volatile world: the cyberengineering of resilient networked infrastructures

任何关键基础设施都由联网的信息和通信技术(信通技术)系统控制和管理。无处不在、无处不在和有形的计算这一新兴领域的巨大进步使硬件和软件能够在一定程度上结合在一起，从而使一场技术革命成为可能，在这场革命中，信息和通信技术系统与有形基础设施融合在一起，将转变为一个巨大的情报网络，称为“电子网络”。电子网络是相互依赖的关键基础设施的“神经系统”，因此是“最薄弱的环节”。通过申请的探索基金，我的目标是开发通用方法，以建立任何类型(电力、水、天然气、金融、材料和产品等)的弹性关键供应网络。我的方法将赋予eNetwork基础设施自我意识，以便它能够识别可能的威胁或新出现的漏洞，并重新配置自己，以获得对意外故障和恶意攻击的弹性。通过使用自然的涌现模型，就像基因工程中控制DNA的方式一样，我们将能够控制在预期威胁出现之前对其具有弹性的网络配置的出现。这种方法将是新颖的，因为它集成了上下文感知建模作为控制集群机制的工具，eNetwork通过该集群机制自组织其服务，以根据发生的情况的动态调整其弹性。拟议的计划将推动复杂性科学领域的发展，同时使我们与周围环境和物理世界互动的方式实现重大突破。有弹性的eNetworks就如何处理国际关注的重大技术、经济、社会和生态问题，如无停电发电和配电、能源消耗优化、联网运输和制造、灾害应对、高效农业、环境监测、金融风险和可持续性评估，开放了以前不可想象的视角。

Any critical infrastructure is controlled and managed by networked information and communication technologies (ICT) systems. Tremendous progress in the emerging area of ubiquitous, pervasive and tangible computing enables hardware and software to be integrated to a degree that makes possible a technological revolution in which ICT systems merged with physical infrastructure will be transformed together into a vast intelligence network, called an 'eNetwork'. eNetworks are the 'nervous system' of interdependent critical infrastructures and as such are the 'the weakest link'.  Through the requested Discovery Grant, my aim is to develop generic methodologies to build resilient critical supply networks of any kind (electricity, water, gas, finances, materials and products, etc). My approach will endow the eNetworked infrastructure with self-awareness such that it is able to identify possible threats or emerging vulnerabilities and reconfigure itself to attain resilience to both accidental failures and malicious attacks. By using natural models of emergence, much in the same manner that DNA is controlled in genetic engineering, we will be able to control the emergence of a network configuration resilient to anticipated threats before they manifest. This approach will be novel in its integration of context-aware modeling as a tool for controlling the clustering mechanism through which the eNetwork self-organizes its services to tune its resilience according to the dynamics of the occurring situation. The proposed program will advance the area of complexity science while enabling a major breakthrough in the way we interact with the surrounding environment and physical world. Resilient eNetworks open perspectives unthinkable before on how to approach major technological, economic, societal and ecological problems  of international concern, such as blackout-free electricity generation and distribution, optimization of energy consumption, networked transportation and manufacturing, disaster response, efficient agriculture, environmental monitoring, financial risk and sustainability assessment.