Federated Embedded Systems – a review of the literature in related fields

This report is concerned with the vision of smart interconnected objects, a vision that has attracted much attention lately. In this paper, embedded, interconnected, open, and heterogeneous control systems are in focus, formally referred to as Federated Embedded Systems. To place FES into a context, a review of some related research directions is presented. This review includes such concepts as systems of systems, cyber-physical systems, ubiquitous computing, internet of things, and multi-agent systems. Interestingly, the reviewed fields seem to overlap with each other in an increasing number of ways

Flexible and Intelligent Learning Architectures for SOS (FILA-SoS)

Multi-faceted systems of the future will entail complex logic and reasoning with many levels of reasoning in intricate arrangement. The organization of these systems involves a web of connections and demonstrates self-driven adaptability. They are designed for autonomy and may exhibit emergent behavior that can be visualized. Our quest continues to handle complexities, design and operate these systems. The challenge in Complex Adaptive Systems design is to design an organized complexity that will allow a system to achieve its goals. This report attempts to push the boundaries of research in complexity, by identifying challenges and opportunities. Complex adaptive system-of-systems (CASoS) approach is developed to handle this huge uncertainty in socio-technical systems

Enabling Flexibility through Forming and Evolving Systems of Systems

Flexibility is a highly desired attribute of many systems operating in changing or uncertain conditions. This paper presents a study of enabling flexibility through designing and operating systems of systems (SoSs). The paper analyzes flexibility mechanisms of SoSs and, accordingly, identifies needs for flexibility that SoSs can meet. Following that, it proposes a hierarchical network as a more flexible SoS architecture for complex or distributed large-scale systems. Then, decision problems for forming and evolving a SoS network are defined. A case that involves integrating distributed renewable energy sources with the main grid is presented to illustrate the implementation of the proposed methodology. Results from this study support the idea of acquiring and maintaining flexibility with SoSs. The paper also identifies research needs for advancing this particular use of SoSs

Assessing Security Risk and Requirements for Systems of Systems

A System of Systems (SoS) is a term used to describe independent systems converging for a purpose that could only be carried out through this interdependent collaboration. Many examples of SoSs exist, but the term has become a source of confusion across domains. Moreover, there are few illustrative SoS examples demonstrating their initial classification and structure. While there are many approaches for engineering of systems, less exist for SoS engineering. More specifically, there is a research gap towards approaches addressing SoS security risk assessment for engineering and operational needs, with a need for tool-support to assist modelling and visualising security risk and requirements in an interconnected SoS. From this, security requirements can provide a systematic means to identify constraints and related risks of the SoS, mitigated by human-user and system requirements. This work investigates specific challenges and current approaches for SoS security and risk, and aims to identify the alignment of SoS factors and concepts suitable for eliciting, analysing, validating risks with use of a tool-support for assessing security risk in the SoS context

Integration of Information Operations Theory into the Corporate Air Force

The purpose of this research was to determine the desired end-state for company grade officers in terms of an information operations education. Specifically, an examination of company grade officer curricula from the pre-commissioning sources to the Squadron Officer College was performed. This assessment was then compared to the Air Force Institute of Technology Cyber Competency Areas Framework. Any areas that were missing from the current company grade officer curricula were identified and a proposed implementation plan was presented to correct these deficiencies. To aid in developing an implementation plan, redundancies between the two Squadron Officer College courses were identified. Furthermore, the Air Force process for determining subject content for Air Force professional military education was identified, as were potential ways to influence professional military education curricula. This research resulted in several recommendations designed to bridge the gap between the current company grade officer curricula and the proposed company grade officer curricula, as determined by the Air Force Institute of Technology Cyber Competency Areas Framework

UNCOVERING EVIDENCE OF ATTACKER BEHAVIOR ON THE NETWORK

This comprehensive research presents and investigates a diverse assessment of interruption discovery strategies and their job in contemporary online protection. Interruption Recognition Frameworks are taken apart as vital parts in defending computerized foundations, utilizing different techniques, for example, signature-based, peculiarity based, and heuristic-based identification. While signature-based strategies demonstrate strong against known dangers, the review highlights the urgent job of irregularity-based and heuristic-based approaches in countering novel and complex assaults. Different types attract, their characteristics and behaviors has explored in this paper. The mix of AI and Man-made consciousness (computer based intelligence) in recognizing odd exercises arises as an extraordinary power, empowering versatile reactions to developing digital dangers. The exploration fundamentally breaks down the difficulties looked by existing location strategies, including versatility concerns, high bogus positive rates, and the encryption-related obstacles in rush hour gridlock examination. The outcomes and investigation segment approves the viability of proposed models, including group learning strategies and creative techniques, for example, the Solid Methodology in light of Blockchain and Peculiarity based location (SABA). A Convolutional Brain Organization (CNN) model for interruption location in IoT conditions and a cross breed approach joining positioning based channel strategies and NSGA-II exhibit eminent exactnesses. The review\u27s suggestions for network security are significant, prompting proposals for a TTP-driven approach, mix of conduct peculiarities, persistent security mindfulness preparing, standard red group works out, versatile episode reaction plans, and intermittent security reviews. By and large, the examination contributes a nuanced comprehension of assailant\u27s ways of behaving, down to earth procedures for online protection flexibility, and makes way for future investigation into dynamic danger scenes and the human component in network safety

Towards Identifying and closing Gaps in Assurance of autonomous Road vehicleS - a collection of Technical Notes Part 2

This report provides an introduction and overview of the Technical Topic Notes (TTNs) produced in the Towards Identifying and closing Gaps in Assurance of autonomous Road vehicleS (Tigars) project. These notes aim to support the development and evaluation of autonomous vehicles. Part 1 addresses: Assurance-overview and issues, Resilience and Safety Requirements, Open Systems Perspective and Formal Verification and Static Analysis of ML Systems. This report is Part 2 and discusses: Simulation and Dynamic Testing, Defence in Depth and Diversity, Security-Informed Safety Analysis, Standards and Guidelines

Tradespace and Affordability – Phase 1

One of the key elements of the SERC’s research strategy is transforming the practice of systems engineering – “SE Transformation.” The Grand Challenge goal for SE Transformation is to transform the DoD community’s current systems engineering and management methods, processes, and tools (MPTs) and practices away from sequential, single stovepipe system, hardware-first, outside-in, document-driven, point-solution, acquisition-oriented approaches; and toward concurrent, portfolio and enterprise-oriented, hardware-software-human engineered, balanced outside-in and inside-out, model-driven, set-based, full life cycle approaches.This material is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)) under Contract H98230-08- D-0171 (Task Order 0031, RT 046).This material is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)) under Contract H98230-08- D-0171 (Task Order 0031, RT 046)

A critical review of cyber-physical security for building automation systems

Modern Building Automation Systems (BASs), as the brain that enables the smartness of a smart building, often require increased connectivity both among system components as well as with outside entities, such as optimized automation via outsourced cloud analytics and increased building-grid integrations. However, increased connectivity and accessibility come with increased cyber security threats. BASs were historically developed as closed environments with limited cyber-security considerations. As a result, BASs in many buildings are vulnerable to cyber-attacks that may cause adverse consequences, such as occupant discomfort, excessive energy usage, and unexpected equipment downtime. Therefore, there is a strong need to advance the state-of-the-art in cyber-physical security for BASs and provide practical solutions for attack mitigation in buildings. However, an inclusive and systematic review of BAS vulnerabilities, potential cyber-attacks with impact assessment, detection & defense approaches, and cyber-secure resilient control strategies is currently lacking in the literature. This review paper fills the gap by providing a comprehensive up-to-date review of cyber-physical security for BASs at three levels in commercial buildings: management level, automation level, and field level. The general BASs vulnerabilities and protocol-specific vulnerabilities for the four dominant BAS protocols are reviewed, followed by a discussion on four attack targets and seven potential attack scenarios. The impact of cyber-attacks on BASs is summarized as signal corruption, signal delaying, and signal blocking. The typical cyber-attack detection and defense approaches are identified at the three levels. Cyber-secure resilient control strategies for BASs under attack are categorized into passive and active resilient control schemes. Open challenges and future opportunities are finally discussed.Comment: 38 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables, submitted to Annual Reviews in Contro