Medical Cyber–Physical Systems: The Early Years

Abstract

h MEDICAL CYBER–PHYSICAL SYSTEMS (MedCPSs) are life-critical, context-aware, and/or networked systems of medical devices. Traditional clinical scenarios can be viewed as closed-loop systems where caregivers are the controllers, medical devices act as sensors and actuators, and patients are the ‘‘plants.’’ MedCPSs alter this view by introducing additional computational entities that aid caregivers. Such systems are increasingly used in hospitals to provide high-quality continuous care for patients. The need to design complex MedCPSs that are both safe and effective presents numerous challenges, including achieving high assurance in medical system software, interoperability, context-aware intelligence, autonomy, security and privacy, and device certification. My first research activity in MedCPSs started in 2002whenDavidHislopattheAROandPaulJonesat