Integrating AADL and FMI to Extend Virtual Integration Capability

Virtual Integration Capability is paramount to perform early validation of Cyber Physical Systems. The objective is to guide the systems engineer so as to ensure that the system under design meets multiple criteria through high-fidelity simulation. In this paper, we present an integration scheme that leverages the FMI (Functional Mock-Up interface) standard and the AADL architecture description language. Their combination allows for validation of systems combining embedded platform captured by the AADL, and FMI components that represent physical elements, either mechanical parts, or the environment. We present one approach, and demonstrator case studies

Implementation of a Hierarchical, Embedded, Cyber Attack Detection System for SPI Devices on Unmanned Aerial Systems

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) create security concerns as their roles expand in commercial, military, and consumer spaces. The need to secure these systems is recognized in the architecture for a Hierarchical, Embedded, Cyber Attack Detection (HECAD) system. HECAD passively monitors the communication between a flight controller and all its peripherals like sensors and actuators. It ensures the functionality of a UAS is within the set of defined behavior and reports all potential problems, whether the errors were caused by cyber attacks or other physical faults. A portion of the design for Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) devices on board a flight control system is developed on an FPGA device. A wide range of cyber attacks and other faults are checked in SPI HECAD, implemented with VHDL and verified through use of the Integrated Logic Analyzer tool

A water distribution and treatment simulation for testing cyber security enhancements for water sector SCADA systems.

Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems are used by many critical infrastructures including electric power production and distribution, water and waste water treatment, rail transportation, and gas and oil distribution. Originally isolated proprietary systems, SCADA systems are increasingly connected to enterprise networks and the Internet and today use commercial hardware and software. As a result SCADA systems now face serious cyber-security threats. The need for testing and evaluation of developed cyber-security solutions presents a challenge since evaluation on actual systems is usually not possible and building complete physical testbeds is costly. This thesis presents the design and development of a water systems simulation for testing and evaluation of cyber-security enhanced field devices. The simulation consists of two main parts: a human machine interface/master terminal unit (HMI/MTU) component and a water treatment and distribution component. The HMI/MTU part supports new security protocols used to communicate with the hardened remote terminal unit (RTU). The water system simulates a water treatment and distribution center. A data acquisition (DAQ) module was used in conjunction with LabVIEWTM to create a water distribution and treatment simulation that could be interfaced with an actual field device. Field device I/Os are wired to the DAQ which then interface with the LabVIEWTM simulation. The simulation supports: selectable polling of I/O, graphical representation of I/O, random water usage, constant water usage, and simulation data collection. The simulation uses a modular design pattern so that it can be easily extended in the future. Initial testing with a hardened RTU prototype confirmed the ability of the simulation to interact with real hardware and identified some minor errors in the prototype’s security protocol implementation. With additional DAQ devices the simulation could be extended to simulate larger water systems

Features of integrated model-based co-modelling and co-simulation technology

Given the considerable ongoing research interest in collaborative multidisciplinary modelling and co-simulation, it is worth considering the features of model-based techniques and tools that deliver benefits to cyber-physical systems developers. The European project “Integrated Tool Chain for Model-based Design of Cyber-Physical Systems” (INTO-CPS) has developed a well-founded tool chain for CPS design, based on the Functional Mock-up Interface standard, and supported by methodological guidance. The focus of the project has been on the delivery of a sound foundation, an open chain of compatible and usable tools, and a set of accessible guidelines that help users adapt the technology to their development needs

The earlier the better: a theory of timed actor interfaces

Programming embedded and cyber-physical systems requires attention not only to functional behavior and correctness, but also to non-functional aspects and specifically timing and performance constraints. A structured, compositional, model-based approach based on stepwise refinement and abstraction techniques can support the development process, increase its quality and reduce development time through automation of synthesis, analysis or verification. For this purpose, we introduce in this paper a general theory of timed actor interfaces. Our theory supports a notion of refinement that is based on the principle of worst-case design that permeates the world of performance-critical systems. This is in contrast with the classical behavioral and functional refinements based on restricting or enlarging sets of behaviors. An important feature of our refinement is that it allows time-deterministic abstractions to be made of time-non-deterministic systems, improving efficiency and reducing complexity of formal analysis. We also show how our theory relates to, and can be used to reconcile a number of existing time and performance models and how their established theories can be exploited to represent and analyze interface specifications and refinement steps.\u

Qduino: a cyber-physical programming platform for multicore Systems-on-Chip

Emerging multicore Systems-on-Chip are enabling new cyber-physical applications such as autonomous drones, driverless cars and smart manufacturing using web-connected 3D printers. Common to those applications is a communicating task pipeline, to acquire and process sensor data and produce outputs that control actuators. As a result, these applications usually have timing requirements for both individual tasks and task pipelines formed for sensor data processing and actuation. Current cyber-physical programming platforms, such as Arduino and embedded Linux with the POSIX interface do not allow application developers to specify those timing requirements. Moreover, none of them provide the programming interface to schedule tasks and map them to processor cores, while managing I/O in a predictable manner, on multicore hardware platforms. Hence, this thesis presents the Qduino programming platform. Qduino adopts the simplicity of the Arduino API, with additional support for real-time multithreaded sketches on multicore architectures. Qduino allows application developers to specify timing properties of individual tasks as well as task pipelines at the design stage. To this end, we propose a mathematical framework to derive each task’s budget and period from the specified end-to-end timing requirements. The second part of the thesis is motivated by the observation that at the center of these pipelines are tasks that typically require complex software support, such as sensor data fusion or image processing algorithms. These features are usually developed by many man-year engineering efforts and thus commonly seen on General-Purpose Operating Systems (GPOS). Therefore, in order to support modern, intelligent cyber-physical applications, we enhance the Qduino platform’s extensibility by taking advantage of the Quest-V virtualized partitioning kernel. The platform’s usability is demonstrated by building a novel web-connected 3D printer and a prototypical autonomous drone framework in Qduino

An Axiomatic Categorisation Framework for the Dynamic Alignment of Disparate Functions in Cyber-Physical Systems

YesAdvancing Industry 4.0 concepts by mapping the product of the automotive industry on the spectrum of Cyber Physical Systems, we immediately recognise the convoluted processes involved in the design of new generation vehicles. New technologies developed around the communication core (IoT) enable novel interactions with data. Our framework employs previously untapped data from vehicles in the field for intelligent vehicle health management and knowledge integration into design. Firstly, the concept of an inter-disciplinary artefact is introduced to support the dynamic alignment of disparate functions, so that cyber variables change when physical variables change. Secondly, the axiomatic categorisation (AC) framework simulates functional transformations from artefact to artefact, to monitor and control automotive systems rather than components. Herein, an artefact is defined as a triad of the physical and engineered component, the information processing entity, and communication devices at their interface. Variable changes are modelled using AC, in conjunction with the artefacts, to aggregate functional transformations within the conceptual boundary of a physical system of systems.Jaguar Land Rover funded research “Intelligent Personalised Powertrain Healthcare” 2016-201