All CPS infrastructures are distinct, however, and it will be essential for our community to delve into domain specifics and not devote our attention exclusively to abstractions. Details of electric power systems, traffic management (air, rail, road), water distribution, manufacturing facilities -- and the interconnections of these and others implicit in new areas of interest such as smart cities -- must be understood and accommodated for practical industry-relevant solutions. Indeed, the state of the practice should be appreciated and may offer prospects for adoption elsewhere. For example, n-1 contingency analysis in power systems, triple modular redundancy in avionics, and dedicated safety shutdown systems in manufacturing are all resilience approaches that have proven successful for years/decades.
But general questions need to be discussed too, even if solutions will inevitably be domain-specific: What is the appropriate balance between centralized and decentralized control? How should performance and robustness be traded off? How can cyber and physical security be integrated? Do market integration and market-based approaches help or hinder?
It's also useful to contemplate how, in some industries, recent ancillary developments are leading to new control engineering approaches for resilient infrastructures. Smart grids furnish examples in particular. With phasor measurement units (PMUs) we can now monitor the state of the grid in detail and in real time; appropriate analysis of PMU data can detect incipient issues and to effect mitigating control actions. High-speed command and telemetry signals can enable demand-side resources, including loads and storage, to maintain grid reliability even with high penetration of intermittent renewables. And data analytics in cloud platforms can result in large-scale models that can be used for optimization of performance and robustness.
Finally, we must continue to remind ourselves that the scope of the challenges is such that technology will not be the sole answer. Other key aspects include policy/regulation and the human factor.
Tariq Samad is a Corporate Fellow with Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions, based in Minneapolis, U.S.A. His career with Honeywell has spanned 28 years, during which time he has contributed to and led automation and control technology developments for applications in electric power systems, the process industries, building management, automotive engines, unmanned aircraft, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing. His research interests relate broadly to automation, intelligence, and autonomy for complex engineering systems.
Dr. Samad is the President of the American Automatic Control Council for 2014-15 and he served as the President of IEEE Control Systems Society in 2009. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and the recipient of a few awards including the 2008 IEEE CSS Control Systems Technology Award, a Distinguished Member Award from IEEE CSS, and an IEEE Third Millennium Medal. He was editor-in-chief of IEEE Control Systems Magazine from 1998 to 2003. He was the Program Chair for the 2008 American Control Conference (Seattle) and the General Chair for the 2012 American Control Conference (Montreal). He has also chaired/co-chaired several workshops, including the International Workshop on Smart City (Hangzhou, China, Sept. 2013) and the Workshop on Human Cyber Physical System Interaction-Control for Human Welfare (Paris, Sept. 2014). Dr. Samad holds 18 patents and has authored or coauthored over 100 publications, including a book and three edited volumes. Other recent publications include the online report, The Impact of Control Technology (ieeecss.org/main/IoCT-report) and the Encyclopedia of Systems and Control (co-editor, to be published by Springer in 2014). He is the editor-in-chief of IEEE Press. He represents Honeywell on the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute and he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, chairing its Executive Committee. Dr. Samad holds a B.S. degree in Engineering and Applied Science from Yale University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.