Networked cyber-physical systems: Interdependence, resilience and information exchange

Ubiquitous in modern critical infrastructure, networked cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are a collection of task-oriented systems whose cyber and physical resources are conjoined and coordinated to achieve unprecedented capabilities. In this paper, we study how physically independent systems can be made interdependent in the CPS context. In order to understand such interdependencies, we establish a system framework to investigate the effect of cyber coupling on physical control systems. In particular, we study the optimal control of networked control system jointly with power control problems in wireless communication networks. We show that the information exchange between cyber and physical layers not only makes the control system more efficient but also enhances its resilience to adversarial behaviors. In addition, as a result of interdependencies, a jamming attack on one CPS can benefit the performance of the other CPS. We use a two-CPS case study to demonstrate performance of the coupled system at both the physical and cyber layers.