Designing a Cyber-Physical Cloud Computing Architecture

In this era of interconnectivity, where almost everybody, everything, and anything are networked, cyber-physical systems (CPS), also known as the Internet of Things (IoT), have emerged as vital systems that use information systems to observe and modify the physical world. Despite the proliferation of CPS in our lives, many such systems still use hardwired designs to accomplish a limited set of functions, such as sensing, actuating, or processing data or information. To achieve the vision of a platform for enabling the full potential of CPS that will encourage and drive innovation, CPS designers will need a new architectural design that can help connect everybody, everything, and anything together to achieve both our known and unknown goals. In this article, the authors present such a conceptual design and discuss its essential parts and key characteristics.