Evaluation Platform for Networked Smart Infrastructures

Networked Smart Infrastructures (NSI) are essentially large-scale systems and services in an urban environment that formed by combining activities and operations of many related domains (e.g., energy, transportation, communication, water distribution, and public safety) to provide its essential services in an intelligent manner. The functionality of NSIs is derived by utilizing various CPSs that interoperate and exchange data about their interaction with the physical world. These infrastructures go beyond traditional infrastructures by deploying a set of sensors and controllers (even using several Internet of Things (IoT) devices) for their remote operations and collection and processing of large-scale data in order to provide much improved quality of service. Interoperability of the components of NSI is crucial for enabling effective data sharing among them and their interdependent operations. Cybersecurity is another significant concern with NSI because their networked architecture makes them highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Therefore, it is critical to devise large-scale heterogeneous simulation integration tools and approaches for evaluating effectiveness of various networked architectures of these smart infrastructures as well as their resilience amidst various cyber-threats. Furthermore, these systems produce huge data that must be effectively harnessed for developing autonomous monitoring, control, and analysis – all of which necessitates the use of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence techniques. The use of multiple communication networking technologies and protocols is also fundamental to the functioning of networked infrastructures. Further, each of the smart infrastructure – that interoperates with other infrastructures – is in itself composed of a large number of components that work together to provide its services. This essentially means that simulation-based evaluation of each smart infrastructure requires its own large-scale integration of heterogeneous simulations, and thereby evaluating networked smart infrastructures require integrating multiple integrated simulations. This project leverages our Cyber-Physical Systems Wind Tunnel (CPSWT) framework -- that enables rapid, model-based integration of a variety of simulation tools -- for enabling the capability to integrate multiple simulated networks and multiple integrated simulations, enabling resilience evaluations of systems against cyber-attacks, and thereby enabling comprehensive analysis of large-scale networked infrastructures.