A Framework for Developing Cyber-Physical Systems

Abstract

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are pervasive in our daily life from mobile phones to auto-driving cars. CPSs are inherently complex due to their sophisticated behaviors and thus difficult to build. In this paper, we propose a framework to develop CPSs based on a model-driven approach with quality assurance throughout the development process. An agent-oriented approach is used to model individual physical and computation processes using high-level Petri nets, and an aspect-oriented approach is used to integrate individual models. The Petri net models are systematically mapped to classes and threads in Java, which are enhanced and extended with domain-specific functionalities. Complementary quality assurance techniques are applied throughout system development and deployment, including simulation and model checking of design models, model checking of Java code, and runtime verification of Java executable. We demonstrate our framework using a car parking system.