Internet of Things: A control theory perspective

There has been much discussion recently regarding the "internet of Things" (IoT). The IoT is the phenomenon of physical things, embedded with sensors and actuators, coming online and interfacing with Internet-capable devices such as smartphones and cloud computing services. IoT technology has been embraced by Silicon Valley as well as many prominent companies; for example, General Electric has launched the Industrial Internet, Intel has an IoT group, and Cisco calls it "fog Computing." The National Science Foundation has prioritized this development under their Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) programs across the Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) Directorate. Even large software companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon are starting to invest heavily in hardware again.

During this lecture, I will present the broad IoT vision and then focus on some of the research challenges upon which my group is currently focusing. From a control theory perspective, some of these challenges include the development of a control theory that is communication- and energy-aware, controlling large numbers of devices or robots for active information gathering, designing attack-resilient controllers in the presence of cyber-attacks, as well as ensuring privacy of cloud-based estimation and control systems.
George J. Pappas is the Joseph Moore Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a secondary appointment in the Departments of Computer and Information Sciences, and Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics. He is member of the GRASP Lab and the PRECISE Center. He has previously served as the Deputy Dean for Research in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. His research focuses on control theory and in particular, hybrid systems, embedded systems, hierarchical and distributed control systems, with applications to unmanned aerial vehicles, distributed robotics, green buildings, and biomolecular networks. He is a Fellow of IEEE, and has received various awards such as the Antonio Ruberti Young Researcher Prize, the George S. Axelby Award, the O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award, the National Science Foundation PECASE, and the George H. Heilmeier Faculty Excellence Award.