Toward Co-Design of Autonomous Aerospace Cyber-Physical Systems.

Modern vehicles are equipped with a complex suite of computing (cyber) and electromechanical (physical) systems. Holistic design, modeling, and optimization of such Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) requires new techniques capable of integrated analysis across the full CPS. This dissertations introduces two methods for balancing cyber and physical resources in a step toward holistic co-design of CPS. First, an ordinary differential equation model abstraction of controller sampling rate is developed and added to the equations of motion of a physical system to form a holistic discrete-time-varying linear system representing the CPS controller. Using feedback control, this cyber effector, sampling rate, is then co-regulated alongside physical effectors in response to physical system tracking error. This technique is applied to a spring-mass-damper, inverted pendulum, and finally to attitude control of a small satellite (CubeSat). Additionally, two new controllers for discrete-time-varying systems are introduced; a gain-scheduled discrete-time linear regulator (DLQR) in which DLQR gains are scheduled over time-varying sampling rates, and a forward-propagation Riccati-based (FPRB) controller. The FPRB CPS controller shows promise in balancing cyber and physical resources. Second, we propose a cost function of cyber and physical parameters to optimize an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) trajectory for a pipeline surveillance mission. Optimization parameters are UAV velocity and mission-critical surveillance task execution rate. Metrics for pipeline image information, energy, cyber utilization, and time comprise the cost function and Pareto fronts are analyzed to gain insight into cyber and physical tradeoffs for mission success. Finally, the cost function is optimized using numerical methods, and results from several cost weightings and Pareto front analyses are tabulated. We show that increased mission success can be achieved by considering both cyber and physical parameters together.PhDAerospace EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108823/1/justyn_1.pd

Vulnerability Assessment of Large-scale Power Systems to False Data Injection Attacks

This paper studies the vulnerability of large-scale power systems to false data injection (FDI) attacks through their physical consequences. Prior work has shown that an attacker-defender bi-level linear program (ADBLP) can be used to determine the worst-case consequences of FDI attacks aiming to maximize the physical power flow on a target line. This ADBLP can be transformed into a single-level mixed-integer linear program, but it is hard to solve on large power systems due to numerical difficulties. In this paper, four computationally efficient algorithms are presented to solve the attack optimization problem on large power systems. These algorithms are applied on the IEEE 118-bus system and the Polish system with 2383 buses to conduct vulnerability assessments, and they provide feasible attacks that cause line overflows, as well as upper bounds on the maximal power flow resulting from any attack.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Design Space Exploration in Cyber-Physical Systems

Cyber physical systems (CPS) integrate a variety of engineering areas such as control, mechanical and computer engineering in a holistic design effort. While interdependencies between the different disciplines are key attributes of CPS design science, little is known about the impact of design decisions of the cyber part on the overall system qualities. To investigate these interdependencies, this paper proposes a simulation-based Design Space Exploration (DSE) framework that considers detailed cyber system parameters such as cache size, bus width, and voltage levels in addition to physical and control parameters of the CPS. We propose an exploration algorithm that surfs the parameter configurations in the cyber physical sub-systems, in order to approximate the Pareto-optimal design points with regards to the trade-os among the design objectives, such as energy consumption and control stability. We apply the proposed framework to a network control system for an inverted-pendulum application. The presented holistic evaluation of the identified Pareto-points reveals the presence of non-trivial trade-os, which are imposed by the control, physical, and detailed cyber parameters. For instance the identified energy and control optimal design points comprise configurations with a wide range of CPU speeds, sample times and cache configuration following non-trivial zig-zag patterns. The proposed framework could identify and manage those trade-os and, as a result, is an imperative rst step to automate the search for superior CSP configurations

Smart Grid Technologies in Europe: An Overview

The old electricity network infrastructure has proven to be inadequate, with respect to modern challenges such as alternative energy sources, electricity demand and energy saving policies. Moreover, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) seem to have reached an adequate level of reliability and flexibility in order to support a new concept of electricity network—the smart grid. In this work, we will analyse the state-of-the-art of smart grids, in their technical, management, security, and optimization aspects. We will also provide a brief overview of the regulatory aspects involved in the development of a smart grid, mainly from the viewpoint of the European Unio