An approach to model dependability of cyber-physical systems

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) represent a new generation of digital systems, where cyber entities and physical devices cooperate towards a set of common goals. The research presented in this paper aims to contribute to the development of CPSs by proposing: (1) an analysis methodology to model the CPS’s behavior in terms of dependability; and (2) a CPS architecture with dependability facilities applicable in environmental monitoring, based on the Wireless Sensor Network, multi-agent and cloud computing technologies. The proposed methodology combines a primary dependability analysis technique with the representation of knowledge in order to support the development of CPSs capable to model the dependability at run-time. A dependability domain ontology has been implemented on a CPS case study based on this methodology and its effectiveness has been demonstrated, showing how the proposed approach is able to enhance system dependability. Also, the paper provides a detailed description of each architectural layer of the CPS case study, focusing on the wireless sensor node and on the intelligent decision system.