2,132 research outputs found
Supporting Cyber-Physical Systems with Wireless Sensor Networks: An Outlook of Software and Services
Sensing, communication, computation and control technologies are the essential building blocks of a cyber-physical system (CPS). Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are a way to support CPS as they provide fine-grained spatial-temporal sensing, communication and computation at a low premium of cost and power. In this article, we explore the fundamental concepts guiding the design and implementation of WSNs. We report the latest developments in WSN software and services for meeting existing requirements and newer demands; particularly in the areas of: operating system, simulator and emulator, programming abstraction, virtualization, IP-based communication and security, time and location, and network monitoring and management. We also reflect on the ongoing
efforts in providing dependable assurances for WSN-driven CPS. Finally, we report on its applicability with a case-study on smart buildings
Design and management of image processing pipelines within CPS: Acquired experience towards the end of the FitOptiVis ECSEL Project
Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) are dynamic and reactive systems interacting with processes, environment and, sometimes, humans. They are often distributed with sensors and actuators, characterized for being smart, adaptive, predictive and react in real-time. Indeed, image- and video-processing pipelines are a prime source for environmental information for systems allowing them to take better decisions according to what they see. Therefore, in FitOptiVis, we are developing novel methods and tools to integrate complex image- and video-processing pipelines. FitOptiVis aims to deliver a reference architecture for describing and optimizing quality and resource management for imaging and video pipelines in CPSs both at design- and run-time. The architecture is concretized in low-power, high-performance, smart components, and in methods and tools for combined design-time and run-time multi-objective optimization and adaptation within system and environment constraints
Feedback Control Goes Wireless: Guaranteed Stability over Low-power Multi-hop Networks
Closing feedback loops fast and over long distances is key to emerging
applications; for example, robot motion control and swarm coordination require
update intervals of tens of milliseconds. Low-power wireless technology is
preferred for its low cost, small form factor, and flexibility, especially if
the devices support multi-hop communication. So far, however, feedback control
over wireless multi-hop networks has only been shown for update intervals on
the order of seconds. This paper presents a wireless embedded system that tames
imperfections impairing control performance (e.g., jitter and message loss),
and a control design that exploits the essential properties of this system to
provably guarantee closed-loop stability for physical processes with linear
time-invariant dynamics. Using experiments on a cyber-physical testbed with 20
wireless nodes and multiple cart-pole systems, we are the first to demonstrate
and evaluate feedback control and coordination over wireless multi-hop networks
for update intervals of 20 to 50 milliseconds.Comment: Accepted final version to appear in: 10th ACM/IEEE International
Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems (with CPS-IoT Week 2019) (ICCPS '19),
April 16--18, 2019, Montreal, QC, Canad
The potential of programmable logic in the middle: cache bleaching
Consolidating hard real-time systems onto modern multi-core Systems-on-Chip (SoC) is an open challenge. The extensive sharing of hardware resources at the memory hierarchy raises important unpredictability concerns. The problem is exacerbated as more computationally demanding workload is expected to be handled with real-time guarantees in next-generation Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). A large body of works has approached the problem by proposing novel hardware re-designs, and by proposing software-only solutions to mitigate performance interference. Strong from the observation that unpredictability arises from a lack of fine-grained control over the behavior of shared hardware components, we outline a promising new resource management approach. We demonstrate that it is possible to introduce Programmable Logic In-the-Middle (PLIM) between a traditional multi-core processor and main memory. This provides the unique capability of manipulating individual memory transactions. We propose a proof-of-concept system implementation of PLIM modules on a commercial multi-core SoC. The PLIM approach is then leveraged to solve long-standing issues with cache coloring. Thanks to PLIM, colored sparse addresses can be re-compacted in main memory. This is the base principle behind the technique we call Cache Bleaching. We evaluate our design on real applications and propose hypervisor-level adaptations to showcase the potential of the PLIM approach.Accepted manuscrip
Middleware for Wireless Sensor Networks: An Outlook
In modern distributed computing, applications are rarely built directly atop operating system facilities, e.g., sockets. Higher-level middleware abstractions and systems are often employed to simplify the programmer’s chore or to achieve interoperability. In contrast, real-world wireless sensor network (WSN) applications are almost always developed by relying directly on the operating system.
Why is this the case? Does it make sense to include a middleware layer in the design of WSNs? And, if so, is it the same kind of software system as in traditional distributed computing? What are the fundamental concepts, reasonable assumptions, and key criteria guiding its design? What are the main open research challenges, and the potential pitfalls? Most importantly, is it worth pursuing research in this field?
This paper provides a (biased) answer to these and other research questions, preceded by a brief account on the state of the art in the field
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