More Like this

1. Data Validation and Correction for Resiliency in Mobile Cyber-Physical Systems

   https://doi.org/10.1109/CCNC.2019.8651853  

   Mussard-Afcari, Yasmeen; Rawat, Danda B.; Garuba, Moses (January 2019, 2019 16th IEEE Annual Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (CCNC))

   Traffic congestion and accidents are increasing exponentially worldwide. More vehicles are sold every year which leads to more traffic fatalities and congestion. There have been several efforts worldwide for mobile Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) to address a range of problems including traffic congestion, accidents, unnecessary time spent in traffic jams, and overall infotainment by using onboard communicating and computing technologies. However, when we use peer-to-peer network-based communication for mobile CPS, malicious users/vehicles could mislead the mobile CPS by not reporting their true periodic status data to their neighbors on the road. In this paper, we study a data validation and correction approach for resiliency in mobile CPS that uses a diverse set of data for reducing false information. Numerical results obtained from Monte Carlo simulation are used to evaluate the proposed approach. Results show that the proposed approach minimizes the false data in the mobile CPS to enhance the resiliency. 

   more » « less
2. Toward the Validation of a Novel Measure of Individuals’ Influence During Team Collaborations

   https://doi.org/10.1177/21695067231192643  

   Harrison, Julie L.; Gorman, Jamie C.; Reitman, Jason G.; D’Mello, Sidney (September 2023, Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting)

   Collaborative problem solving (CPS) is an important skill in the modern workforce, and due to its interactive nature, is challenging to assess. The present study builds on work in team sciences to provide initial validation for a metric that quantifies CPS influence—the extent to which each individual contributes toward the team’s CPS processes—using average mutual information (AMI). The measure is investigated in teams collaborating in a computer programming task, where one teammate was assigned to a controller role (i.e., the only person who engaged with the task interface directly). Results suggest the controller had more influence over the team’s CPS processes than the other participants in the triad, providing initial validation for the influence metric. Future work will investigate the measure in classrooms and multiple modalities, and extend the metric in real-time to understand how influence fluctuates over the course of collaboration. 

   more » « less
3. Information dynamics in the network of cyber-physical systems

   Wang, Yan (May 2020, Proceedings of 13th International Symposium on Tools and Methods of Competitive Engineering (TMCE2020))

   null (Ed.)

   Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are physical devices with highly integrated functionalities of sensing, computing, communication, and control. The levels of intelligence and functions that CPS can perform heavily rely on their intense collaboration and information sharing through networks. In this paper, the information propagation within CPS networks is studied. Information dynamics models are proposed to characterize the evolution of information processing capabilities of CPS nodes in networks. The models are based on a mesoscale probabilistic graph model, where the sensing and computing functions of CPS nodes are captured as the probabilities of correct predictions, whereas the communication functions are represented as the probabilities of mutual influences between nodes. In the proposed copula dynamics model, the information dependency among individuals is represented with joint prediction probabilities and estimated from copulas of extremal probabilities. In the proposed functional interdependency model, the correlations between prediction capabilities are captured with their functional relationships. A data-driven approach is taken to train the parameters of the information dynamics models with data from simulations. The information dynamics models are demonstrated with a simulator of CPS networks. 

   more » « less
4. Automated Adversary-in-the-Loop Cyber-Physical Defense Planning

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3596222  

   Banik, Sandeep; Ramachandran, Thiagarajan; Bhattacharya, Arnab; Bopardikar, Shaunak D. (July 2023, ACM Transactions on Cyber-Physical Systems)

   Security of cyber-physical systems (CPS) continues to pose new challenges due to the tight integration and operational complexity of the cyber and physical components. To address these challenges, this article presents a domain-aware, optimization-based approach to determine an effective defense strategy for CPS in an automated fashion—by emulating a strategic adversary in the loop that exploits system vulnerabilities, interconnection of the CPS, and the dynamics of the physical components. Our approach builds on an adversarial decision-making model based on a Markov Decision Process (MDP) that determines the optimal cyber (discrete) and physical (continuous) attack actions over a CPS attack graph. The defense planning problem is modeled as a non-zero-sum game between the adversary and defender. We use a model-free reinforcement learning method to solve the adversary’s problem as a function of the defense strategy. We then employ Bayesian optimization (BO) to find an approximatebest-responsefor the defender to harden the network against the resulting adversary policy. This process is iterated multiple times to improve the strategy for both players. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on a ransomware-inspired graph with a smart building system as the physical process. Numerical studies show that our method converges to a Nash equilibrium for various defender-specific costs of network hardening. 

   more » « less
5. A Case Study of API Design for Interoperability and Security of the Internet of Things

   Kim, Dongha; Lee, Chanhee; Kim, Hokeun (November 2024, EAI)

   Heterogeneous distributed systems, including the Internet of Things (IoT) or distributed cyber-physical systems (CPS), often su↵er a lack of interoperability and security, which hinders the wider deployment of such systems. Specifically, the di↵erent levels of security requirements and the heterogeneity in terms of communication models, for instance, point-to-point vs. publish-subscribe, are the example challenges of IoT and distributed CPS consisting of heterogeneous devices and applications. In this paper, we propose a working application programming interface (API) and runtime to enhance interoperability and security while addressing the challenges that stem from the heterogeneity in the IoT and distributed CPS. In our case study, we design and implement our application programming interface (API) design approach using opensource software, and with our working implementation, we evaluate the e↵ectiveness of our proposed approach. Our experimental results suggest that our approach can achieve both interoperability and security in the IoT and distributed CPS with a reasonably small overhead and better-managed software. 

   more » « less