Connecting the cyber and the physical
NIST is looking for feedback on its evolving framework for systems that connect the real world and the computer world.
What: “Draft 6 Framework for Cyber-Physical Systems 7 Release 0.8,” from the National institute of Standards and Technology.
Why: If you’ve been living in a cabin in the woods off the grid, you might be unaware that the Internet of Things keeps escalating. For the rest of us, an ever-increasing list of everyday items ranging from the esoteric -- unmanned vehicles and intelligent buildings – to the mundane -- cell phones and fitness bracelets – are part of the IoT. But they’re also a special corner of that world called cyber-physical systems (CPS).
CPS integrates computational, networking, and physical processes to bridge the real world and the cyber world. CPS devices provide feedback on physical processes and vice versa. NIST wants to help manufacturers create new CPS for smart systems that allow more seamless interaction. The agency’s draft CPS framework document is a step in that direction.
CPS tightly integrates physical and computing devices—such as movement sensors that inform your fitness bracelet how far you have walked, or the computer controlling the transmission and antilock brakes in your car. Whatever the purpose of a given CPS, the draft framework outlines the common attributes that its subparts share with other CPS devices and systems, and indicates what it must do to interact successfully with the broader CPS environment.
NIST wants public comment within the next 45 days on the draft document, which was developed by NIST’s CPS Public Working Group, which includes members from industry, academia and government.
The draft document, said NIST, reflects more than a year’s effort by the public working group, adding that the framework is likely to undergo a second draft release for further public comment before a final version is published.
Verbatim: “The impacts of CPS will be revolutionary and pervasive; this is evident today in emerging autonomous vehicles, intelligent buildings, smart energy systems, robots, and smart medical devices. Realizing the full promise of CPS will require interoperability among heterogeneous components and systems, supported by new reference architectures using shared vocabularies and definitions.”