Model-based engineering of cyber-physical software systems for smart worlds: A case study of automobile control systems

The paper discusses the design of cyber-physical systems software around intelligent physical worlds (IPW). An IPW is the embodiment of control software functions wrapped around the external world processes. The IPW performs core domain-specific activities while adapting its behavior to the changing environment conditions and user inputs. The IPW exhibits an intelligent behavior over a limited operating region of the system - in contrast with the traditional models where the physical world is basically dumb. The intelligent behavior of IPW is feasible when certain system properties hold: function separability and piece-wise linearity of system behavioral models. To work over a wider range of operating conditions, the IPW interacts with an intelligent computational world (ICW) to patch itself with suitable control parameters and rules/procedures relevant in those changed conditions. The modular decomposition of a complex adaptive system into IPW and ICW has many advantages: lowering overall software complexity, simplifying system verification, and supporting easier evolution of system features. The paper illuminates our concept of IPW with a software engineering-oriented case study of applications.