Cyber-physical Systems of Systems (CPSoS) are large complex systems where physical elements interact with and are controlled by a large number of distributed and networked computing elements and human users. Examples are railway systems, air traffic, future road traffic, logistic networks, the electric grid, industrial production sites, and smart buildings. These systems are subject to increasingly stringent demands on the reduction of emissions, efficient use of resources, high service and product quality levels, and low cost and competitiveness on the world market.
The European support action CPSoS (Towards a European Roadmap on Research and Innovation in Engineering and Management of Cyber-physical Systems of Systems), has released a “Proposal of a European Research and Innovation Agenda on Cyber-physical Systems of Systems – 2016-2025” that describes research and innovation challenges and medium-term research and innovation priorities for the engineering and management of cyber-physical systems of systems which were identified by the project consortium in cooperation with more than 100 external industrial and academic experts.
The CPSoS project has identified three core long-term research challenges that must be addressed in an inter-disciplinary manner and in collaboration of tool and solution providers, end-users, and research institutions:
- Distributed, reliable and efficient management of cyber-physical systems of systems
- Engineering support for the design-operation continuum of cyber-physical systems of systems
- Towards cognitive cyber-physical systems of systems
In addition, the project has defined 11 medium-term research and innovation priorities that should receive attention and funding in the next 5 years to advance towards meeting the core challenges:
- System Integration and Reconfiguration
- Resiliency in Large Systems
- Distributed Robust System-wide Optimization
- Data-based System Operation
- Predictive Maintenance for Improved Asset Management
- Overcoming the Modeling Bottleneck
- Humans in the Loop
- Integration of Control, Scheduling, Planning, and Demand-side Response in Industrial Production Systems
- New ICT Infrastructures for Adaptable, Resilient, and Reconfigurable Manufacturing Processes
- Multi-disciplinary, Multi-objective Optimization of Operations in Complex, Dynamic, 24/7 Systems
- Safe, Secure and Trusted Autonomous Operations in Transportation and Logistics
To provide practical context for the core challenges and medium-term priorities, the agenda summarizes the current state in a variety of technology sectors in which cyber-physical systems of systems play a key role, including transportation (automotive, rail, aerospace, maritime), logistics, the process and manufacturing industries, the energy sector, and smart buildings. For all of these sectors, current needs and major challenges are described and related to the engineering and management of CPSoS.
Download the research and innovation agenda proposal here: www.cpsos.eu/roadmap.
