Architectures

Software & systems engineering and their applications.
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Visible to the public Foundations for Understanding Volatility and Improving Operational Reliability

Abstract:

This project addresses the impact of the integration of renewable intermittent generation and the integration of sophisticated sensing, communication, and actuation capabilities into the grid on the system's reliability, volatility, and economic efficiency, and seeks to develop system architectures, along with associated optimization and control algorithms to balance such trade--offs. The high level goals of this project can be stated as follows:

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Visible to the public Foundations of Secure Cyber Physical Systems

Abstract:

Cyber-physical systems regulating critical infrastructures, such as electrical grids and water networks, are increasingly geographically distributed, necessitating communication between remote sensors, actuators and controllers. The combination of networked computational and physical sub- systems leads to new security vulnerabilities that adversaries can exploit with devastating consequences.

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Visible to the public Hybrid Control Tools for Power Management and Optimization in Cyber-Physical Systems

Abstract:

This project explores balancing performance considerations and power consumption in cyber-physical systems, through algorithms that switch among different modes of operation (e.g., low-power/high-power, on/off, or mobile/static) in response to environmental conditions. The main theoretical contribution is a computational, hybrid optimal control framework that is connected to a number of relevant target applications where physical modeling, control design, and software architectures all constitute important components.

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Visible to the public Hybrid Continuous-Discrete Computers for Cyber-Physical Systems

Abstract:

The goal of this research is to investigate and demonstrate the capabilities of hybrid computers, combining both discrete and continuous computation, in the context of cyber-physical systems.

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Visible to the public Human-Machine Interaction with Mobility Enhancing Soft Exosuits

Abstract:

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability in the US with approximately 7 million stroke survivors living in the US today and for patients with neurological disorders, it has been shown that limited gait velocity commonly results in walking that is predominantly restricted to the household. Unlike traditional exoskeletons, which contain rigid linkage elements, the vision for this work is for exosuits that use soft materials such as textiles to provide a more conformal, unobtrusive and compliant means to interface to the human body.

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Visible to the public Integration of Conjoined Cyber-Physical System Properties

Abstract:

Effective response and adaptation to the physical world, and rigorous management of such behaviors, are mandatory features of cyber-physical systems (CPS). However, achieving such capabilities across diverse application requirements surpasses the current state of the art in system platforms and tools. Existing systems do not support the expression, integration, and enforcement of such properties that span cyber and physical domains.

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Visible to the public Multi-Agent Control of Intelligent Power Distribution Systems

Abstract:

The project will demonstrate a Holonic Multi-agent System Architecture capable of adaptively controlling future electrical power distribution systems (PDS), which are expected to include a large number of renewable power generators, energy storage devices, and advanced metering and control devices. The project will produce a general, extensible, and secure cyber architecture based on holonic multi-agent principles to support adaptive PDS.

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Visible to the public Provably Safe Automotive Cyber-Physical Systems with Humans-in-the-Loop

Abstract:

This project focuses on the formal design of semi-autonomous automotive Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). Rather than disconnecting the driver from the vehicle, the goal is to obtain a vehicle where the degree of autonomy is continuously changed in real-time as a function of certified uncertainty ranges in driver behavior and environment reconstruction.

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Visible to the public Semantics of Optimization for Real Time Intelligent Embedded Systems (SORTIES)

Abstract:

Optimization algorithms used in a real-time and safety-critical context offer the potential for considerably advancing robotic and autonomous systems by improving their ability to execute complex missions. However, this promise cannot happen without proper attention to the considerably stronger operational constraints that real time, safety-critical applications must meet, unlike their non-real-time, desktop counterparts.