Network QoS Management in Cyber-Physical Systems

📝 Abstract

Technical advances in ubiquitous sensing, embedded computing, and wireless communication are leading to a new generation of engineered systems called cyber-physical systems (CPS). CPS promises to transform the way we interact with the physical world just as the Internet transformed how we interact with one another. Before this vision becomes a reality, however, a large number of challenges have to be addressed. Network quality of service (QoS) management in this new realm is among those issues that deserve extensive research efforts. It is envisioned that wireless sensor/actuator networks (WSANs) will play an essential role in CPS. This paper examines the main characteristics of WSANs and the requirements of QoS provisioning in the context of cyber-physical computing. Several research topics and challenges are identified. As a sample solution, a feedback scheduling framework is proposed to tackle some of the identified challenges. A simple example is also presented that illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed solution.

💡 Analysis

Technical advances in ubiquitous sensing, embedded computing, and wireless communication are leading to a new generation of engineered systems called cyber-physical systems (CPS). CPS promises to transform the way we interact with the physical world just as the Internet transformed how we interact with one another. Before this vision becomes a reality, however, a large number of challenges have to be addressed. Network quality of service (QoS) management in this new realm is among those issues that deserve extensive research efforts. It is envisioned that wireless sensor/actuator networks (WSANs) will play an essential role in CPS. This paper examines the main characteristics of WSANs and the requirements of QoS provisioning in the context of cyber-physical computing. Several research topics and challenges are identified. As a sample solution, a feedback scheduling framework is proposed to tackle some of the identified challenges. A simple example is also presented that illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed solution.

📄 Content

Network QoS Management in Cyber-Physical Systems

Feng Xia1,3, Longhua Ma2, Jinxiang Dong1, and Youxian Sun2 1College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China f.xia@ieee.org 2State Key Lab of Industrial Control Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China lhma@iipc.zju.edu.cn 3Faculty of Information Technology, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

Abstract

Technical advances in ubiquitous sensing, embedded computing, and wireless communication are leading to a new generation of engineered systems called cyber-physical systems (CPS). CPS promises to transform the way we interact with the physical world just as the Internet transformed how we interact with one another. Before this vision becomes a reality, however, a large number of challenges have to be addressed. Network quality of service (QoS) management in this new realm is among those issues that deserve extensive research efforts. It is envisioned that wireless sensor/actuator networks (WSANs) will play an essential role in CPS. This paper examines the main characteristics of WSANs and the requirements of QoS provisioning in the context of cyber-physical computing. Several research topics and challenges are identified. As a sample solution, a feedback scheduling framework is proposed to tackle some of the identified challenges. A simple example is also presented that illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed solution.

1. Introduction

In the last two years, a revolutionary transformation from stand-alone, self-contained embedded systems to cyber-physical systems (CPS) [1-3] has commenced. Technical evolutions in sensing, computing, and networking, particularly deeply embedded sensors and wireless sensor/actuator networks (WSANs), are responsible for this tendency. Cyber-physical systems are integrations of computation, networking, and physical dynamics, in which embedded devices are networked to sense, monitor and control the physical world. CPS is an area yet to be explored, with almost all related papers being position papers that discuss the grand challenges and possibilities. The integration of computing and physical processes is not new. Cyber-physical systems exist today, but in a much smaller scale in size and complexity than the anticipated CPS of the future. The revolution will mainly come from massive networking of embedded computing devices such as sensors and actuators [1]. This revolution will be featured by the envisioned transform that CPS will make on how we interact with the physical world, just like the Internet transformed how we interact with one another. To facilitate unprecedented interactions between human beings and the physical world, networking will become a crucial ingredient due to the need for coupling geographically distributed computing devices and physical elements. It has also become evident that WSANs will be adopted in various CPS to serve as the underlying network infrastructure [4]. In this paper, we are concerned with network design in CPS, with emphasis on network quality of service (QoS) management. A vision of CPS is given in Section 2. The requirements of supporting QoS in WSANs that serve CPS are examined in Section 3. Several research topics of interest and relevant challenges are identified in Section 4. As a sample framework for possible solutions, we propose to exploit the feedback scheduling technology in managing the network QoS in Section 5. An illustrative example is presented with promising results. Finally, concluding remarks are given in Section 6.

2. The vision

In a future CPS, as shown in Figure 1, a large number of embedded, possibly mobile computing devices will be interconnected through WSANs, constituting various autonomous subsystems that provide certain services for end users (i.e. human beings). A CPS may be composed of numerous subsystems. Global information sharing is achieved by connecting WSANs to the Internet. For instance, in a cyber-physical city, there may be diverse cyber- physical subsystems for, among others, personal health care, smart home, intelligent transportation, facilities maintenance, and public security. CPS will become pervasive in virtually all fields of science and engineering, such as industry, agriculture, health care, building, military, security, environmental science, biology, and geology, as well as our everyday life.

Internet Application 1 Application 2 Application 3 User Sensor Actuator

Figure 1. Physical topology of a CPS

From an abstract view, WSANs serve CPS as the interface between the cyber system and the physical system. Sensors gather information about the physical world, while actuators react to this information by performing appropriate actions upon the physical world. WSANs enable cyber systems to monitor and manipulate the behavior of the physic

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