Computing technologies and engineering methods for cyber-physical systems of systems

Topic description

Specific Challenge:

Cyber-physical Systems of Systems (CPSoS), like transport networks or large manufacturing facilities, interact with and are controlled by a considerable number of distributed and networked computing elements and human users. These complex and physically-entangled systems of systems are of crucial importance for the quality of life of the citizens and for the European economy. At system level the challenge is to bring a step change to the engineering techniques supporting the design-operation continuum of dynamic CPSoS and to exploit emerging technologies such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence. At computing level the challenge is to develop radically new solutions overcoming the intrinsic limitations of today's computing system architectures and software design practices.

a. Research and Innovation Actions

The focus is on dependable physically-entangled systems for applications in industrial sectors. Work is complementary to the initiative on European low-power microprocessor technologies, which addresses technology for HPC applications, and to the ECSEL programme, which addresses computing for CPSoS at higher TRL.

Computing software and systems design for physically-entangled systems supporting the creation of reliable, robust and energy-aware solutions for autonomous and safety-critical systems. The issues of energy efficiency, testability, trust and cyber-security should be considered, as well as the support of different levels of criticality on the same computing platform where needed.

Models, tools and methods for design-operations continuum of dependable CPSoS supporting the complete lifecycle of Cyber-Physical Systems of Systems (CPSoS), from requirements capture to design, test, operation and decommissioning. Projects shall focus on autonomic solutions capable of guaranteeing the overall reliability and security even when the components or subsystems are not fully reliable and unforeseen conditions emerge in the course of operation.

Projects will target TRLs 2-5, and will deliver a working prototype tested in at least two different use cases, demonstrating improvement over the state of the art in industrial and professional domains. The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 3 and 5 million would allow this area to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts. In each area at least four proposals will be funded.

b. Coordination and Support Activities

The objective is to structure, connect and cross-fertilise the European academic and industrial research and innovation communities in Embedded Computing and Cyber-Physical Systems. The action should implement technology watch, facilitate take-up of technologies in real-world use cases and support know-how transfer. Activities will include constituency building, clustering of related projects, liaison with related programmes such as ECSEL and EUREKA, impact analysis, communication of project results, pre-normative activities and road-mapping for future research and innovation. One proposal will be funded.

Proposals should address one or more of the following impact criteria, providing metrics to measure success where appropriate:

• Availability of innovative technologies supporting compute-intensive applications in industrial and professional domains, demonstrating significant and measurable improvement over the state of the art.
• Availability of engineering practices and tools for CPSoS, resulting in a demonstrable improvement in quality and cost of development and operation for large SoS.
• Increased synergies and collaboration between industrial and academic communities; dissemination of high-quality roadmap for future research and innovation activities in the relevant areas.