Model-based design of cyber-physical software systems for smart worlds: a software engineering perspective
Kaliappa Ravindran, Ramesh Sethu · 2014
The paper discusses the design of cyber-physical systems software around intelligent physical worlds (IPW). An IPW is the embodiment of control software functions wrapped around the external world processes, exhibiting self-adaptive behavior over a limited operating region of the system. This is in contrast with the traditional models where the physical world is basically dumb. A self-adaptation of IPW is feasible when certain system properties hold: function separability and piece-wise linearity of system behavioral models. The IPW interacts with an intelligent computational world (ICW) to work over wide range of operating conditions, by patching itself with suitable control parameters and rules & procedures relevant to a changed condition. The modular decomposition of a complex adaptive system into IPW and ICW has many advantages: lowering overall software complexity, simplifying system verification, and supporting easier evolution of system features. The paper illuminates our concept of IPW with software engineering-oriented case study of an industrial application: automotive system.