⚙️ ITCS401: Cyber‑Physical Systems Security

🎯 Learning Outcomes (LOs)

After completing this chapter, students should be able to:

• Define Cyber‑Physical Systems (CPS).
• Differentiate between the cyber and physical components of CPS.
• Explain how CPS operate through monitoring, coordination, control, and integration using computing and communication cores.
• Identify and describe the key characteristics of CPS.

🔍 Definition (1/3)

🔍 CPS as monitored/controlled systems

CPS are physical and engineered systems whose operations are monitored, coordinated, controlled and integrated by a computing and communication core.

Benefits:

• Safer and more efficient systems.
• Reduce cost of building and operating.
• Build complex systems with new capabilities.

📈 Drivers of CPS

• Decreasing cost of computation, networking, sensing.
• Ubiquitous computers & communication → national/global scale CPS.
• Social/economic forces require more efficient use of national infrastructure.

🧩 10 Defining Characteristics

1. Tight Cyber–Physical Integration: close coupling, continuous feedback loops (sensors → controllers → actuators).
2. Extensive Networking: wired/wireless, local to global scales.
3. System‑of‑Systems Architecture: multiple interacting subsystems, each independent but contributing to a larger goal.
4. Spatial and Temporal Complexity: spans micro to macro, milliseconds to years.
5. High Degree of Automation: minimal human intervention, automated decision‑making.
6. Unconventional Substrates: may integrate bio‑systems, nano‑devices.
7. Security and Privacy Requirements: ubiquity introduces risks; protect data, signals, privacy.
8. Human Interaction in the Control Loop: non‑technical users (smart homes, vehicles) influence performance.
9. Dependability and Reliability: safe, fault‑tolerant, certified in critical domains.
10. Dynamic Reconfiguration and Adaptation: runtime reorganization in response to changes/failures.

🚫 Distinctions

• Not desktop computing.
• Not traditional post‑hoc embedded/real‑time systems.
• Not today’s sensor nets.

💡 Immense benefits

Healthcare, home automation, vehicle automation, industrial logistics, etc.

📈 Adoption increasing

Moore’s Law drives affordable, powerful computational devices → rise of CPS and IoT.

📊 Moore’s Law (1965, Gordon Moore)

🔗 Connection

Based on Moore’s Law, transistors double every two years → affordable, powerful, highly computational devices aka “Things”. This gave rise to CPS and IoT.

🔌 Smart & connected

“Smart” non‑traditional devices (toasters, washing machines, lightbulbs) connected to the internet. They communicate with each other (e.g., Alexa controls toaster, thermostat).

📝 Practice Questions (with detailed answers)

1. Q1: Which of the following best defines Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS)?
   A. Systems that only perform digital computations
   B. Systems that combine software with databases
   C. Systems where cyber and physical components are tightly integrated ✓
   D. Systems limited to sensor networks
2. Q2: In CPS terminology, the “cyber” component primarily refers to:
   A. Mechanical structures
   B. Natural systems governed by physics
   C. Computation, communication, and control ✓
   D. Continuous-time processes
3. Q3: Cyber-Physical Systems are best described as systems whose operations are:
   A. Manually controlled
   B. Independently monitored
   C. Monitored, coordinated, and controlled by a computing core ✓
   D. Isolated from communication networks
4. Q4: The cyber component of CPS mainly includes:
   A. Actuators and sensors
   B. Continuous-time physical processes
   C. Mechanical and electrical structures
   D. Computation, communication, and control ✓
5. Q5: The physical component of CPS is characterized by:
   A. Discrete logic and algorithms
   B. Dynamic behavior, actuators, and reconfiguration ✓
   C. Databases and cloud computing
   D. Software protocols
6. Q6: Which of the following is a key characteristic of CPS?
   A. Loose coupling between cyber and physical parts
   B. Tight integration with continuous feedback loops ✓
   C. Manual control at all times
   D. Isolation from communication networks

📌 Chapter 1 – Part 1: Everything in one place