1. IoT, CPS, Smart-X – An Overview
CSC 453, CSC-591/ECE592, Spring 2016
Rudra Dutta

2. Context
Confluence of computing, communications, deep sensing, actuation, analytics
Enabling “smarter” versions of commonplace processes
An idea whose time has come?
Different viewpoints – different names
What is really new about this?
(IS anything?)
How does it change things for designers, developers, practitioners?
(DOES it?)
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

3. “Internet of Things” The Internet has always connected things
But only a specific class of things – computers
People have used computers that communicate over the Internet
To enable communications for people
Perceived as “communications”
Mail, chat, …
To enable cooperating computers to present single-point information
Perceived as “distributed information”
Web, cloud, …
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

4. “Internet of Things” Things that are not typical computing devices
Things that don’t typically communicate
But to attach to the (an) Internet, you need a computer…
To make a “thing” “smart”, must
Attach a computer to the thing
Connect the computer to the (a) network
Attach  information flow
Degree of information coupling
Tight: (micro)computer integrated into device
Loose: computer observes device
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

5. Why Bother? What can a thing tell you? What can a thing be told to do?
Thing-specific
Its state (sensor reading)
Thing-unspecific
Its position/location/orientation
Its identity (may be enough – RFID)
What can a thing be told to do?
Change state
Switch on/off
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

6. IoT as Confluence * Reproduced from [Atzori2010]
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

7. Cyber-Physical Systems
“Cyber-physical systems integrate sensing, computation, control and networking into physical objects and infrastructure, connecting them to the Internet and to each other.” – NSF
“The next generation of engineered systems that require tight integration of computing, communication, and control technologies to achieve stability, performance, reliability, robustness, and efficiency in dealing with physical systems of many application domains.” [KimKumar 2012]
So… same as IoT, then?
Wait, “control”…
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

8. Control System
A “plant” evolves according to applicable physical laws or phenomena, and some “input”
A “governor” / controller ensures some target characteristic of the plant state and output, by observing output, and modifying input
Digital/hybrid control system: controller is wholly or partly a computer/algorithm
Networked control system: controlling computer is remote
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

9. Back to CPS
A controller that “closes the loop” in the physical world by using computation in cyberspace
Plant may be (is likely) distributed
Controller may be (is likely) distributed
Perforce, must be real-time (for some definition of real-time)
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

10. Sensor/Actuator Architecture
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

11. System Components
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

12. System Components
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

13. System Components
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

14. System Tasks Poll sensor(s) Process data Archive Visualize Fuse
Manage sensor(s)
Configure, task
Sensor Platform Program
Sensor reading
Sending data
Polling network
Battery management
Meta-tasks
Capability reporting
Configure on command
Self-configure on read
Real-time
Collective Tasks/Meta-tasks
Routing
Scheduled sleep
Localization support
In-network fusion
In-network self-configure
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

15. System Components
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

16. Designer/Developer PoV
Agile, early, complete prototyping helps
Inefficient to optimize analytics without knowing sensor characteristics
Or decide distribution of algorithm without understanding networking overhead tradeoff
In the end (optimizing phase) area experts should design/develop separate components
But not in the beginning
Ultimately, a long-known truth
Knuth’s comment on premature optimization
Brook’s principle of “throwing the first one away”
But now, designer of cyber part has to understand something of the issues of interfacing with physical
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016

17. Components Communication Sensing Analytics Orchestration
Socket programming
Routing/forwarding configuration/implementation
WiFi network formation
Sensing
BBBK headless programming
BBBK device trees, reading pins
Need to be aware of voltages; possibly some circuits
Analytics
Smarts of the system – historical, predictive, model-based, semantics
Orchestration
Efficient sensing/analysis program design – transition to distributed
Need to be aware of timing issues; concurrence

18. Summary IoT-type applications/systems are an exciting new opportunity
Likely to grow even more in the near future
To be effective, must understand all components of the architecture to some extent
No better way to than by doing
Hence this course
Copyright Rudra Dutta, CSC, NCSU, Spring 2016