Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) are complex engineered systems that link the physical and digital worlds. They include sensors, actuators and network connections that interact to automatically evaluate operational conditions.

Examples of CPS include automated sewage processing, zero-fatality highways and personalized medical devices. However, they can be vulnerable to cyber attacks that impact the control elements or network.

Security

Cyber-physical systems combine sensing, computation, networking and control to interact with physical processes in real time. They are an integral part of our critical infrastructure and everyday lives, supporting a range of applications from patient monitoring in hospitals to smart buildings and smart electric grids to autonomous vehicles.

The increased interconnectivity of CPS devices has dramatically expanded attack surfaces and risks. Threat actors have exploited vulnerabilities in these systems to impose costs, impact operations and even threaten human life.

The challenge is to ensure that the security of these complex and unique connected assets is a priority. To do so, security teams need to align with other stakeholders and organizations within the sectors they serve. This requires a deeper understanding of the models and paradigms that are unique to each sector. As a result, the approach must be layered to address the different priorities of IT and OT security. Examples include securing the data processing capabilities of IT networks, while respecting availability and integrity on OT networks.

Reliability

As the computational functionality of cyber-physical systems increases, they are becoming more intelligent and autonomous. This requires a greater level of flexibility, adaptability and robustness in their design and operation.

The reliability of a Challenges in Cyber-Physical Systems is a function of several factors, such as its Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), its ability to withstand environmental conditions, the man-machine interface and its maintenance. Each of these factors has a different impact on the overall reliability of a product.

The security of a cyber-physical system is also critical to its reliability. In addition, it is important to consider the way in which humans will interact with the system. For example, how easy will it be for users to access the system and its components? This will affect how quickly they can repair the system. It will also influence whether they will try to tamper with it in ways that could negatively impact its performance. Semiconductor Engineering recently sat down with several experts to discuss these challenges, including Jean-Marie Brunet, senior director for the Emulation Division at Siemens EDA; Frank Schirrmeister, senior group director for solution marketing at Cadence; and Maurizio Griva, R&D manager at Reply.

Interoperability

As cyber-physical systems become more prevalent, organizations are increasing their reliance on connected devices. But these connected devices can create vulnerabilities that pose serious risks to people and businesses. Organizations need to adopt proactive approaches to protect their CPS and IoT assets.

As a result, there is a growing need for CPS experts in many sectors. This includes government agencies involved in disaster response, energy, aerospace, defense and manufacturing.

These challenges include addressing the unique security, reliability and interoperability requirements of these systems. This requires a new set of skills that are often outside the traditional IT domain.

The development of these systems requires a comprehensive approach that integrates sensing, computing and control. This is challenging, because these systems are based on feedback loops between physical processes and computations. They also require a high degree of accuracy in real-time. This is especially challenging in unstructured environments, such as in manufacturing or healthcare. In addition, systems need to have flexible architectures that adapt to changing environment.

Complexity

As the number of connected devices grows, cyber physical systems are gaining attention from security professionals. These systems are complex and have many potential attack surfaces. They also need to be resilient, reliable and secure. As such, they require the development of new models and algorithms that are capable of handling these challenges.

In addition, CPSs must be able to interact with the real world through low-latency and high-throughput reliable communications. They must be able to adapt to dynamic changes in their environment and identify anomalous system behavior.

Various methods are available to address the complexity challenge of CPSs, including a reconfigurable robot programming [113], human-machine interface for autonomous robot operation [116], and model separation diagnosis in industrial automation systems based on I4.0 [119]. In addition, the physical-to-cyber interface processes history, traceability, and tracking to rectify processing defects and perform product recalls. It also uses tagging technologies such as DataMatrixHF or UHF to track manufactured parts in industrial automated manufacturing environments.