The AXIOM software layers

AXIOM project aims at developing a heterogeneous computing board (SMP-FPGA).The Software Layers developed at the AXIOM project are explained.OmpSs provides an easy way to execute heterogeneous codes in multiple cores. People and objects will soon share the same digital network for information exchange in a world named as the age of the cyber-physical systems. The general expectation is that people and systems will interact in real-time. This poses pressure onto systems design to support increasing demands on computational power, while keeping a low power envelop. Additionally, modular scaling and easy programmability are also important to ensure these systems to become widespread. The whole set of expectations impose scientific and technological challenges that need to be properly addressed.The AXIOM project (Agile, eXtensible, fast I/O Module) will research new hardware/software architectures for cyber-physical systems to meet such expectations. The technical approach aims at solving fundamental problems to enable easy programmability of heterogeneous multi-core multi-board systems. AXIOM proposes the use of the task-based OmpSs programming model, leveraging low-level communication interfaces provided by the hardware. Modular scalability will be possible thanks to a fast interconnect embedded into each module. To this aim, an innovative ARM and FPGA-based board will be designed, with enhanced capabilities for interfacing with the physical world. Its effectiveness will be demonstrated with key scenarios such as Smart Video-Surveillance and Smart Living/Home (domotics).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

IoTSan: Fortifying the Safety of IoT Systems

Today's IoT systems include event-driven smart applications (apps) that interact with sensors and actuators. A problem specific to IoT systems is that buggy apps, unforeseen bad app interactions, or device/communication failures, can cause unsafe and dangerous physical states. Detecting flaws that lead to such states, requires a holistic view of installed apps, component devices, their configurations, and more importantly, how they interact. In this paper, we design IoTSan, a novel practical system that uses model checking as a building block to reveal "interaction-level" flaws by identifying events that can lead the system to unsafe states. In building IoTSan, we design novel techniques tailored to IoT systems, to alleviate the state explosion associated with model checking. IoTSan also automatically translates IoT apps into a format amenable to model checking. Finally, to understand the root cause of a detected vulnerability, we design an attribution mechanism to identify problematic and potentially malicious apps. We evaluate IoTSan on the Samsung SmartThings platform. From 76 manually configured systems, IoTSan detects 147 vulnerabilities. We also evaluate IoTSan with malicious SmartThings apps from a previous effort. IoTSan detects the potential safety violations and also effectively attributes these apps as malicious.Comment: Proc. of the 14th ACM CoNEXT, 201

Developing a user perception model for smart living: A partial least squares structural equation modelling approach

Smart living is highly advocated to improve the quality of life by involving original and innovative solutions. This trend has been jointly driven by policymakers and domain specialists such as urban planners, property developers, and computer engineers. However, little attention has been paid to understanding the perception of the actual users, whose opinions should have been considered in the design and development of smart living systems. To address the gap, this study aims to investigate the user perceptions towards smart living by adopting an exploratory sequential quantitative research method. A user perception model is proposed based on a comprehensive literature review. Using smart student residence as an example scenario, 221 valid data was obtained through open-ended questionnaires, which were then analysed using a partial least squares structural equation modelling approach. This approach analysed the complex relationship among the identified latent dimensions in realising smart living based on the users' perceptions. The finding demonstrated four significant dimensions to consider in realising smart living: system-to-user conditions, system-to-system conformity conditions, safety and service-related conditions, and tracking and monitoring-related conditions. The proposed model explained 78.3% of the variance in realising smart living for the users considered in the study's context. The study makes a unique contribution to the knowledge body by proposing a model to understand smart living from users' perspectives. It reflects the increasing clamour to incorporate user perspectives into the design of smart living systems. The developed model could serve as a decision-support tool to fulfil users' expectations of smart living

Towards e-Cities: an Atlas to enhance the public realm through interactive urban cyber-physical devices

Cyber-physical devices are the backbone of a postdigital society in which the virtual and real spaces are seamlessly integrated by ubiquitous computing and networking. The incorporation of such devices in public space is a central subject of a strategic Research Project that gathers a multidisciplinary team from architecture, product design, polymer science and ICT R&D units. This paper frames the key roles of public space and ICTs for UN Sustainable Development Goals and sustainable smart cities. It also reports the architecture R&D unit review on the relations between public space, community, environment and digital interfaces. This review was materialized in an Atlas that collects, classifies and relates a corpus of heterogeneous urban cyber-physical projects case studies. We expand on three main framing concepts (Digital Twin, Interface, Awareness) and identify trends on the devices’ design and deployment strategies to counteract digitally hostile environments and early obsolescence. We also suggest the rising of new types of urban devices aiming at expanding the liveliness of urban places, the knowledge of urban life and the users’ environmental consciousness. The lessons learned from the Atlas fed the design guidelines for a developing demonstrator of a new breed of environmentally sensible interactive urban devices.Work co-funded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) thru Norte 2020: Project “Lab4U&Spaces - Living Lab of Interactive Urban Space Solution” (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000072); and Project Lab2PT - Landscapes, Heritage and Territory laboratory - UIDB/04509/2020 thru FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Towards an Architecture Operating as a Bio-Cyber-Physical System

Today’s physical-digital continuum challenges designers and architects to envision architecture as a Bio-Cyber-Physical System that is operating as part of a larger ecosystem while addressing societal challenges with a broader understanding of sustainability in mind.  This paper identifies current conditions, challenges and opportunities, while proposing an intercultural dialog toward achieving a better future. The purpose is to enlighten and explore the threshold where the physical interlaces the domain of immaterial flows of information as well as identify some of the digital and material design aspects shaping the multiple facets of bio-cyber-physical-systems in order to propose some possible solutions for current design challenges. &nbsp