Generic framework for design, modeling and simulation of cyber physical systems

Abstract

Wireless technologies have contributed to extensive development of many kinds of applications that enable cost-effective and intelligent monitoring and control of physical environments, objects, activities such as smart buildings, home or industry automation, and remote patient care. These kinds of applications often require support of heterogeneous physical environments and large-scale systems mixing several different types of monitoring and control. In addition to heterogeneity and scalability support, mobility support is crucial in the development of these software systems. Although much research has addressed design, modeling and simulation of such systems, most solutions usually do not cover all requirements from different domains. Rather, these solutions restrict the development environment and reduce flexibility of design by enforcing the use of a specific software platform and tightly-coupled tools. This paper presents problems and challenges of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) like the aforementioned applications, and discusses features and benefits of a generic framework to enable design, modeling and simulation of large-scale, heterogeneous CPS systems in an integrated manner.