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Connor Becker
Dr. Tanik
CS360
5 December 2011
CPS:
Past, Present, Future, and Me
What are cyberphysical systems (CPS)?
There are varied definitions of CPS: the University of
California at Berkeley's CHESS program defines it as “integrations of
computation and physical processes”
(CPS 1); Wikipedia's original article
emphasizes the “tight combination of,
and coordination between” the
components of such systems (Cyberphysical system, 1); the CPSWeek
website is quoted as giving the
CPS Integration Diagram
definition, “Cyber-physical systems are... integrated by a computing
and communication core embedded in all types of objects and
structures in the physical environment” (qtd. in Xie 5).
Where did CPS come from?
The University of Pennsylvania hosted a class on CPS in 2009,
taught in a lecture format by Insup Lee, a professor at the
university and head of the PRECISE Center (a CPS research center
hosted at the university).
The slide show from the first lecture
points to three trends leading to the rise of CPS:
(1) that Moore's
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Law is causing the cost of using embedded processing in applications
to decrease leading to more widespread use; (2) “isolation has cost”,
namely that many small devices in communication can have a great cost
benefit over isolated singular systems; and (3) that “the exponential
proliferation of embedded systems is not matched by a corresponding
increase in human ability to consume information”.
CPS is the
“convergence of computation, communication, and control”.
(Lee, 5)
What is the state of CPS today?
The exciting topic in CPS in the present is just that:
CPS.
Defining exactly what CPS means is a large part in understanding the
future impact of CPS on the
world.
Many organizations
host conferences and workshops
around the world, allowing
scientists and researchers and
dignitaries meet face-to-face,
talking about the future of
CPS.
One such workshop is
University of West Virginia CPS Lab, site of the ICCPS CPSWeek, sponsored by the ACM
2009 Conference
and IEEE; it has been held annually since 2009, this year being
hosted in Beijing.
As part of that workshop, the Third Internation
Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems, or ICCPS, will be held.
(“Third International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems”, 1)
Where is CPS going?
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The National Science Foundation, on its official grant
guidelines web page, states that they “envision that the cyberphysical systems of tomorrow will far exceed those of today in terms
of adaptability, autonomy, efficiency, functionality, reliability,
safety, and usability”.
They have begun looking for research
projects that “contribute to new Cyber-Physical Systems science”,
awarding up to one million dollars for teams of researchers across
universities for each of up to five years of research.
(Funding, 1,
3, 5)
There has been a large amount of investment in CPS around the
world and according to the CPS Steering Group's Executive Summary
document, it is critical for the United States to invest heavily in
new information technology—they say that the Union's current lead of
the world in advanced technology will not necessarily easily
translate into future advancement.
They say that this is important
because in the near future, the vast majority of industries will
include cyber-physical components; from smart planes and cars to
biomedical equipment, from power grids to agriculture, nextgeneration networked embedded systems will be ubiquitous.
Physical Systems Executive Summary, 4).
What is my future in CPS?
(Cyber-
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I didn't sign on for a computer science degree to enter the
cyber-physical systems industry, but the fact remains that more than
likely, whatever I do will involve these next-generation networked
embedded systems.
At the beginning of the class, our instructor
asked us to list five things that interested us in the field of
computers—where we wanted to be and what we wanted to be working on
in five years.
One of my major interests that I hadn't really given
much thought to was human-computer interaction, specifically voice
driven operating and digital organization systems; systems that were
more natural to use and would allow
computers and humans to work together
on problems rather than having a
strictly demarcated line between the
creative and the computational.
Touch input seems to be trendy at the
moment, but I envision the blending
of touch and voice recognition input
systems in the future and certainly
of voice output systems.
I can
Apple's Newton Messagepad 2000, one
of the most advanced interfaces of the
90s
imagine asking HAL, my imagined smart-house's central mainframe to
“open the front door” as well as organize my project date into
integrated projects.
I await the day when the home desktops (and
laptops) are gone, removed and replaced with more “discreet
technology”: coffee tables that double as digital coffee table books,
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voice recognition so that one could move from room to room
communicating with the central closet-based computer via microphone
and have one's work follow on any screen, desks that can also be true
writing tables (for members of older generations that prefer writing
over keyboard input).
If CPS are going to be everywhere, then they're going to be
everywhere we want to be.
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Works Cited
"Cps." Chess - Center for Hybrid and Embedded Software Systems. UC
Berkeley, 2011. Web. 05 Dec. 2011.
<http://chess.eecs.berkeley.edu/cps/>.
CPS Integration Diagram. Digital image. IS252-Introduction to
Computer Design. University of California, Irvine. Web. 5 Dec.
2011. <http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eli/courses/seminar-s10/seminars10.html>.
"Cyber-physical System." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.
Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 05 Dec. 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber-physical_system>.
Cyber-Physical Systems Executive Summary. Publication. CPS Steering
Group. Print.
"Funding - Cyber-Physical Systems." Nsf.org - Funding - CyberPhysical Systems - US National Science Foundation (NSF). US
National Science Foundation, 26 Oct. 2011. Web. 5 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503286>.
Lee, Adriana. Apple Newton Messagepad 2000. Digital image. Using
the Apple Newton For Twitter | TechnoBuffalo. TechnoBuffalo, 10
June 2011. Web. 5 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.technobuffalo.com/internet/social-networking/usingthe-apple-newton-for-twitter/>.
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Lee, Insup. "CIS 480/CIS 899: Embedded and Cyber Physical Systems."
Lecture. Embedded and Cyber Physical Systems. University of
Pennsylvania, 15 Jan. 2011. Web. 5 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~lee/09cis480/lectures.html>.
"Third International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems." Third
International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems. ICCPS. Web.
05 Dec. 2011. <http://iccps2012.cse.wustl.edu/>.
Univ. West Virginia CPS Lab. Digital image. CPSL Announcements.
University of West Virginia, 1 Apr. 2010. Web. 5 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.csee.wvu.edu/~yfallah/events.html>.
Xie, Jingquan. "Cyber-Physical System (CPS)." Missing or Missing?
13 Apr. 2011. Web. 05 Dec. 2011.
<http://mmquan.blogspot.com/2011/04/cyber-physical-systemcps.html>.