Cyber-Physical Systems at Small and Large Scales

Although we have used computers to control physical systems for more than a half century, we still have surprisingly little understanding of the fundamentals governing cyber-physical systems. An important goal of the field is to develop a unified theory of control and computation. This talk will start with a brief overview of the state of CPS and some important challenges. We will then discuss recent results at both small and large scales. At a small scale, we developed with Fumin Zhang et al. an analysis of the relationship between controllability and schedulability. We analyze a controller than uses multiple processes to control a set of stick balancers and determine the conditions under which the control tasks can be scheduled such that all the sticks remain stable. At a large scale, we will discuss work with Santiago Grivalga et al. smart energy grids and service-oriented architecture for control. Traditional service-oriented architectures allow scaling of distributed services but are not designed to support deadlines and quality of service requirements. We propose enhanced service-oriented architectures that support the demands of distributed real-time control.