Mini-Workshops

Visible to the public 

Mini-Workshops

All Mini-Workshops will run concurrently from 10:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. on Friday, November 16th.
Locations will be announced at the meeting. Please check the agenda signage outside the meeting room for the location.

1. Advances and Challenges in Agricultural Cyber-Physical Systems
2. Digital Twin Technology: A Key Enabler of Smart Manufacturing
3. Publishing Tools and Design Studios on the CPS-VO Portal Tutorial
4. Recent Developments on Autonomy and Security of Cyber-Physical Systems
5. Security and Privacy of Cyber-Physical Systems
6. Transition to Practice
7. Unlocking the Power of Edge Computing for CPS


1.  Advances and Challenges in Agricultural Cyber-Physical Systems

Organizers: Pavithra Prabhakar (Kansas State), Soumik Sarkar (Iowa State), and Baskar Ganapathysubramanian (Iowa State University) 

Program Agenda:

10:15 to 10:20 - Introduction 

10:20 to 10:45 - Keynote 1: Dr. Steven J Thomson (USDA/NIFA), Angelica Van Goor (AAAS Fellow - USDA/NIFA)

10:45 to 11:10 - Keynote 2: Prof. Jayne Wu (University of Tennessee - Knoxville) 

11:10 to 11:35 – Keynote 3: Prof. Asheesh Singh (Iowa State University) 

11:35 to 12:40 – Panel discussion (Short presentations by panelists 3 mins each followed by discussions) 

Panelists:
•      Marin Kobilarov (Johns Hopkins University) 
•      Ajay Sharda (Kansas State University) 
•      Jayne Wu (University of Tennessee - Knoxville) 
•      Simone Silvestri (University of Kentucky)
•      Girish Chowdhary (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign) 

Moderators:
•      Soumik Sarkar (Iowa State University) 
•      Pavithra Prabhakar (Kansas State University) 

12:40 to 12:45 - Conclusion 

Abstract:

Today, efficient and cost-effective sensors as well as high performance computing technologies are transforming traditional plant- and animal-based agriculture into sophisticated cyber-physical systems (CPSs). The increased availability of cheap, deployable, connected sensor technology has created an enormous opportunity to collect vast amount of data at varying spatial and temporal scales at both experimental and production agriculture levels. Therefore, both offline and real-time agricultural analytics and control that assimilates such heterogeneous data and provides automated, actionable information and feedback is a critical need for sustainable and profitable agriculture.

In this workshop, we plan to bring together experts from industry, academia and government agencies to identify and discuss critically important challenges in the advancement of agricultural cyber-physical systems. By identifying progress that has been made so far, and challenges for the future, we intend to inspire new ideas and boost research at the intersection of CPS and agriculture.

2.  Digital Twin Technology:  A Key Enabler of Smart Manufacturing

Organizers: Kira Barton (Michigan, Ann-Arbor), Sibin Mohan (UIUC) 

Program Agenda:

The workshop will consist of speakers from academia, industry and government organizations (e.g. NIST). Each presenter will provide their insights into the digital twin technology as well as smart manufacturing in general. This will be followed by an interactive panel discussion. 

Attendees are welcome to submit questions, ahead of time, to the organizers via email. 

Abstract:

Today’s manufacturing paradigm is in the midst of a transformation towards smart manufacturing, driven by the generation and analysis of high-volume data coming from interconnected cyber-physical components. This has necessitated an advancement in a number of the domains related to smart manufacturing such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), anomaly detection, security of industrial plants, novel communication infrastructures, etc. Among the many Smart Manufacturing tenets, a “digital twin” (DT) represents an opportunity to leverage existing and emerging technologies in modeling, simulation and emulation – to improve quality, productivity and ability to customize and reduce energy consumption and waste.

In this workshop, we intend to bring together researchers and engineers (from academia, industry as well as standards organizations) to provide an overview of the latest advances in DT technology and to create a forum for technical discussion of aspects of DT technology from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

3. Publishing Tools and Design Studios on the CPS-VO Portal Tutorial

Organizer:  Janos Sztipanovits (Vanderbilt University)

Program Agenda:

Abstract:

Many successful CPS proposals include commitments to disseminate and make data, models, software, tools, and design studios widely accessible to the research community and potential end-users. However, making research artifacts transitionable is not an easy task. They need to be found, be operational, be made accessible for evaluation (in new application contexts), and offer some basic level of documentation. The CPS-VO Portal incorporates new services and support in the Tools and Design Studios Repository to ensure that research artifacts can be disseminated with minimal effort. There are three basic levels of dissemination methods supported by the CPS-VO Portal: (1) Tool Libraries, (2) Integrated Tools and (3) Design Studios. Tool Libraries are searchable under a community-formed taxonomy and provide visibility for projects via a meta-data driven search. Integrated Tools are directly accessible through the CPS-VO Portal and allow potential users to test capabilities of published tools without a complicated download and installation process using a web interface. Design Studios are self-contained design environments that are embedded in the CPS-VO via an SSL HTML interface. If needed, the pre-configured installations can be hosted within the CPS-VO’s cloud infrastructure. Interested users can gain access to tools, run provided examples and tutorials, and generate results without having to download, install, and configure software.

The tutorial will include demonstrations, and provide details and hands-on practice for the use of CPS-VO services for adopting the selected dissemination methods. The tutorial also incorporates discussions on participating in and organizing CPS student competitions.

4.  Recent Developments on Autonomy and Security of Cyber-Physical Systems

Organizer: Kyriakos G. Vamvoudakis (Georgia Tech)

Program Agenda:

Keynotes (90 minutes)

Keynote 1:

Joao P. Hespanha
University of California, Santa Barbara
Title: Estimation and Classification in CPS Under Attack (30 minutes)

Keynote 2:
George J. Pappas
University of Pennsylvania
Title: Safety analysis of autonomous systems in unknown environments (30 minutes)

Keynote 3:
Paulo Tabuada
University of California, Los Angeles
Title: Towards the Use of Symmetries to Ensure Privacy in Control Over the Cloud (30 minutes)

Young Faculty Leaders Talks (40 minutes)

Fabio Pasqualetti
University of California, Riverside
Title: A Control-Theoretic and Data-Driven Approach to Securing CPS and Networks (10 minutes)

Yan Wan
University of Texas, Arlington
Title: On the UAS Autonomy and Airspace Safety (10 minutes)

Ryan Gerdes
Virginia Tech
Title: The State of CPS Security Research (10 minutes)

Kyriakos G. Vamvoudakis
Georgia Institute of Technology
Title: Non-Equilibrium Dynamic Games and Cyber-Physical Security: A Cognitive Hierarchy Approach (10 minutes)

Panel Discussion formed by the aforementioned members and some additional TBD members (20 minutes)

•      Ideas that arose during the workshop that are different from those considered to date; that is, what new ideas derived from the discussion?
•      How is research in this area done today and what are the limits of current practice?
•      What risks are associated with potentially pursuing alternative paths discussed or expanding CPS research along directions discussed?
•      What are potential metrics for success?

Abstract:

In this workshop we will provide a theoretical modeling, control, and analysis framework for secure, private, safe, and autonomous CPS. The nature of this class of research stems from its ability to generate theoretical and practical advances that will revolutionize the autonomous, secure and safe operation of CPS.

The workshop will start with a talk from J. P. Hespanha on the joint design of estimators and attack policies, to obtain "resilient'' estimators that use redundancy in an optimal fashion. Then, G. J. Pappas, will deliver a talk about safe autonomy and how ideas, rooted in hybrid systems, can be used to provide a rigorous framework for the analysis of autonomous systems with interacting, model-free and model-based techniques. P. Tabuada in his talk will present several methods for enforcing data privacy using symmetry transformations. The proposed methods will allow the CPS to successfully execute control over the cloud without revealing private information such as state trajectories and plant models. F. Pasqualetti will talk on how network and control theories can be used to tackle security problems in CPS, and how one can develop a set of security tools that are complementary to classic cyber security schemes. R. Gerdes will discuss research gaps in CPS security by examining recent work in the security of automated vehicles, electric vehicles, and aviation systems. Y. Wan will discuss several new directions and recent results that are related to UAS autonomy and airspace safety, including communication and control co-design, networked UAS computing, UAS dynamic games with incomplete information, and airspace safety measures. Finally, K. G. Vamvoudakis will present a learning-based approach to identify the cognitive capabilities of agents having bounded rationality in a CPS operating in uncertain and/or adversarial environments. At the end of the talks, there will be a discussion on the future of autonomy in CPS and metrics for success.

5. Security and Privacy of Cyber-Physical Systems

Organizers: Insup Lee (University of Pennsylvania), Miroslav Pajic (Duke)

Program Agenda:

Panel I (35 minutes): Lessons learned from the Intel-NSF partnership for CPS security & privacy
Short overview and lessons learned from the recently completed large projects on security and privacy of Cyber-Physical Systems, which were funded by the Intel-NSF partnership for security and privacy of CPS.
•     Security and Privacy-Aware Cyber-Physical Systems, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, University of Michigan, Lead-PI: Insup Lee (Penn)
•     CPS-Security: End-to-End Security for the Internet of Things, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, Lead-PI: Philip Levis (Stanford)

Panelists: 
•      Richard Chow (Intel Research Labs)
•      Insup Lee (University of Pennsylvania)
•      Miroslav Pajic (Duke University)
•      Kang Shin (University of Michigan)

Panel II (50 minutes): What are the major limitations of the existing security and privacy techniques? What are the problems we should be working on? What is (a) expected, (b) worst-case, and (c) ideal outcome of the security and privacy research done in this domain. 

Panelists: 
•      Patrick McDaniel (Penn State University)
•      Christina Fragouli (UCLA)
•      Xenofon Koutsoukos (Vanderbilt University)
•      Radha Poovendran (University of Washington)
•      Bruno Sinopoli (Carnegie Mellon University)
•      Saman Zonouz (Rutgers University)

Panel III (50 minutes): What opportunities for CPS security and privacy research are available? How can we make tighter connection between research done within the CPS program, other NSF/DoD agencies and industry? How can we facilitate technology transfer? 

Panelists: 
•      Sandeep Nima (DARPA)
•      Sukarno Mertoguno (ONR)
•      Richard Chow (Intel Research Labs) 
•      David Corman (NSF)
•      Tomas Vagoun (NITRD)

Abstract:

The workshop will address security and privacy challenges in a wide-range of CPS domains with varying level of autonomy and human interaction -- from automotive, aerospace and industrial CPS, to robotics, medical devices and systems, smart-grids and -cities. The focus will be on state-of-the-art techniques in this domain, including their major limitations, as well as security and privacy problems CPS community should be working on. In addition, the workshop will focus on the opportunities for security and privacy research within the NSF CPS program and other NSF/DoD agencies as well as industry, and how can we facilitate technology transfer in this domain. 

6. Transition to Practice

Organizers: David Corman (NSF), Sylvia Spengler (NSF), Michal Ziv-El (NSF), Nizeet Aguilar (NSF), Jonathan Sprinkle (NSF), Ralph Wachter (NSF)

Program Agenda:

Introduction to CPS TTP: David Corman, NSF

Panel I: Getting and Running a TTP Award
Moderator: Sylvia Spengler (NSF)

Panelists:
•      Murat Arcak (University of California-Berkeley), Award # 1545116
•      Lily-Ageliki Elefteriadou (University of Florida), Award # 1446813
•      Deniz Erdogmus (Northeastern University), Award # 1544895
•      Nizar Lajnef (Michigan State University),  Award # 1645783

Panel II: Federal Perspective on Technology Maturation
Moderator: David Corman, NSF

Panelists:
•      Shannon Beck (NSF Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Program)
•      David Kuehn (Department of Transportation)
•      Christos Papadopoulos (Department of Homeland Security)
•      Brent Wells (United States Agency for International Development)


Abstract:

The CPS program has great interest in foundational research with the potential for maturation in industry or for other customers. Over the past five years, the CPS program has included a Transition to Practice (TTP) option to support this technology maturation.

The objective of this interactive, mini-workshop is to provide insight to the community on TTP activities from a government customer perspective and what constitutes a successful CPS TTP award. Attendees will first hear from a panel of CPS researchers who have received TTP awards, followed by a panel of government agency representatives from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, US Agency for International Development, and the National Science Foundation. Participants should leave the workshop with a greater understanding of how to formulate new ideas for TTP relevant to current or future research activities.

7. Unlocking the Power of Edge Computing for CPS

Organizers: Umakishore Ramachandran (Georgia Tech), Anish Arora (The Ohio State University)

Invited Panelists: Aakanksha Chowdhery (Google Brain), Bharath Balasubramanian (AT&T Labs Research), Mahadev Satyanarayanan (CMU), Mung Chiang (Purdue/Princeton), Prashant Shenoy (UMass), Robert A. Iannucci (CMU-Silicon Valley), Sanjiv Doshi (CISCO), Vladimir Kolesnikov (Georgia Tech)

A recording of this workshop can be found by clicking here.

Program Agenda:

10:15 AM – 10:25 AM: Welcome and Overview of the Day

10:25 AM to 11:05 AM: Session A (Chair: Anish Arora) 
(Three talks each 8 mins, followed by 15 min Q&A for the presenters) 
Bob Iannucci, CMU-Silicon Valley, Network Edge Considered Harmful
Mung Chiang, Purdue/Princeton, Fog/Edge and Dispersive AI
Mahadev Satyanarayanan, CMU, Research Challenges in IoT

11:05 to 11:10: Stretch time

11:10 AM to 11:50 AM: Session I (Chair: Bob Iannucci) 
(Three talks each 8 mins, followed by 15 min Q&A for the presenters) 
Prashant Shenoy, UMass, Edge-enabled Utility-preserving Privacy for Data-driven CPS Systems
Bharath Balasubramanian, AT&T, State Management for Telco’s Edge
Vladimir Kolesnikov, Georgia Tech, Efficient Crypto Techniques for the Edge

11:50 to 11:55 AM: Stretch time

11:55 AM to 12:20 PM: Session 1 (Chair: Kishore Ramachandran) 
(Two talks each 8 mins, followed by 10 min Q&A for the presenters) 
Aakanksha Chowdhery, Google Brain, From Cloud to Edge: Advances in Mobile AI
Sanjiv Doshi, CISCO, Practical approaches to managing, orchestrating and securing cyber-physical systems

12:20 to 12:45 PM: Wrap up (Chairs: Anish Arora and Kishore Ramachandran) 

Abstract:

Technological forces and novel applications are the drivers that move the needle in systems and networking research, both of which have reached an inflection point. On the technology side, there is a proliferation of sensors in the spaces in which humans live that become more intelligent with each new generation. This opens immense possibilities to harness the potential of inherently distributed multimodal networked sensor platforms (aka Internet of Things - IoT platforms) for societal benefits. On the CPS application side, large-scale situation awareness applications (spanning healthcare, transportation, disaster recovery, and the like) are envisioned to utilize these platforms to convert sensed information into actionable knowledge. The sensors produce data 24/7. Sending such streams to the cloud for processing is sub-optimal for several reasons. First, often there may not be any actionable knowledge in the data streams (e.g., no action in front of a camera), wasting limited backhaul bandwidth to the core network. Second, there is usually a tight bound on latency between sensing and actuation to ensure timely response for situation awareness. Lastly, there may be other non-technical reasons, including sensitivity for the collected data leaving the locale. Sensor sources themselves are increasingly becoming mobile (e.g., self-driving cars). This suggests that provisioning application components that process sensor streams cannot be statically determined but may have to occur dynamically.

All the above reasons suggest that processing should take place in a geo-distributed manner near the sensors. Fog/Edge computing envisions extending the utility computing model of the cloud to the edge of the network.

The purpose of this workshop is to bring together academic researchers and industry practitioner together to discuss what is being done at the edge. For example, companies are building edge platforms (e.g., CISCO’s IOx, Microsoft’s Azure IOT Edge), and researchers are exploring novel ideas for unlocking the potential of edge computing (such as low-cost low-power edge solutions, latency/consistency tradeoffs, data resiliency to ward off correlated power failures, and security and privacy issues) that have special significance for CPS. Further edge computing could also pave the way for addressing the digital divide that exists between well-served and under-served communities in this information age.