An open framework to deploy heterogeneous wireless testbeds for Cyber-Physical Systems

We present an open framework for the efficient deployment of heterogeneous wireless testbeds for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). The testbed architecture, which can be configured and optimized for each particular deployment, consists of a low-power wireless network (LPWN) of embedded devices, a backbone network, and a server back-end. Our framework, whose source code is publicly available, includes a comprehensive set of software tools for deploying, testing, reconfiguring, and evaluating the CPS application software and the supporting firmware. We discuss the architecture, the framework properties, and the hardware resources that are necessary to deploy an experimental testbed. We present two case studies built with our framework: an outdoor lighting installation in a commercial parking lot and an indoor university building instrumentation. Using the two deployments, we present experiments normally conducted by CPS engineers to better understand the environment in which the CPS is deployed. The results of these experiments show the feasibility of the proposed framework in assisting CPS research and development.