A faceted discovery model architecture for cyber-physical systems in the web of things

Abstract

A Cyber-Physical System is a set of heterogeneous devices that integrates computational and digital capabilities with their physical system. As technology evolves to facilitate human tasks, more complex Cyber-Physical Systems are being developed, even integrating them with web technologies (Web of Things), e.g., in the context of the Web of Things, supporting smart city scenarios with thousands of devices available to be discovered online. In these complex solutions, some capabilities related to locating, registering, and consulting devices must be provided to adapt to the continuous changes in Cyber-Physical Systems. Suitable capabilities could be using natural language queries, automatically describing and discovering new devices, or locating devices in different subsystems. This paper1 proposes a discovery model architecture for Cyber-Physical Systems based on the Web of Things, including proactive discovery, recommendation, federation, and query expansion. In an example scenario, the proposed architecture has been implemented with different topologies using Edge Computing facilities to interact and manage Cyber-Physical Systems. The results show that the capabilities of the discovery model architecture facilitate the discovery of CPSs in different smart environments.