by Clas Jacobson

The presence and importance of Cyber Physical Systems is intended as the orchestration of networked computational resources with multi-physics (e.g., mechanical, chemical, electrical) systems in industry cannot be overemphasized. The engineering problems faced daily is managing dynamics, time, and concurrency in heterogeneous (interconnected) systems where the amount and complexity of intelligence (the cyber part) is growing rapidly and where software implementations are a major portion of system design, validation and ultimately verification. Research and education in this field is of strategic importance for business for years to come. Industry and Government in United States have posed CPS at the center of the engineering research agenda since 2007 when the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) highlighted CPS as the “number one” Priority for Federal Investments in Networking and Information Technology). Since 2010, the European research and industrial community has focused on CPS as paradigms for the future of systems. Acatech (German National Academy of Science and Engineering) developed an Integrated Research Agenda for Cyber-Physical Systems published in 2011.

by Françoise Lamnabhi-Lagarrigue, Maria Domenica Di Benedetto and Erwin Schoitsch

Embedded systems - some visible, others integrated into every day equipment and devices – are becoming increasingly pervasive, and increasingly responsible for ensuring our comfort, health, services, safety and security. In combination and close interaction with the unpredictable real-world environment and humans, they become “Cyber-Physical Systems” (CPS), which act independently, co-operatively or as “systems-of-systems” composed of interconnected autonomous systems originally independently developed to fulfill dedicated tasks. Some of these systems may be older legacy systems.

by Ezio Bartocci, Oliver Hoeftberger and Radu Grosu

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are the next generation of embedded ICT systems that are becoming pervasive in every aspect of our daily life. In this article we discuss some of the theoretical and practical challenges that we are currently facing in this area.