Instructor

Tarek Abdelzaher, 4126 Siebel Center, Tel: 265-6793
Office Hours: Fridays, 9-10am, 4126 Siebel Center

Lecture Times

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00 – 3:15pm, 1109 Siebel Center

Description

An expanding frontier for computer scientists lies at the intersection of the logical and physical realms. As computing elements become embedded more pervasively in our environment, a new cyber-physical fabric arises in which logical processing is deeply intertwined with the distributed physical environment in which it occurs. Computing becomes less obtrusive and a more natural part of the external world. It becomes more autonomous and less reliant on human input, intervention, and administration. Physical objects acquire new logical properties due to embedded computation, sensing, and actuation. New networked applications arise that improve the quality of life (e.g., smart assisted living facilities), enhance social experiences and human communication (e.g., participatory sensing and social media), improve accessibility of information (e.g., wide-area data services), and help advance fundamental knowledge in many environmental, biological, and physical disciplines. These applications are sometimes called the Internet of Things. In such systems, the logical computing realm (networks, software) and the physical realm (sensors, actuators, and other things) must operate together under constraints of physical time, space, and energy. The course explores the science of designing and analyzing systems that are guaranteed to perform their functions in a timely manner, understand spatial location, account for energy, and generally interact with the physical laws of nature in which they are embedded. A robotic testbed is used to experiment with some of the results. Selected topics include:

  • - Review of basic concepts (tasks, threads, blocking, priorities, importance, resource partitioning, etc.)
  • - The Reliability Dimension: Complexity reduction, well-formed dependencies, and fail-safe operation
  • - The Time Dimension: Real-time scheduling and resource management
  • - The Energy Dimension: Power-aware algorithms and energy saving issues
  • - Other Challenges
Grading

The course will involve 4 homeworks, 4 programming assignments, two midterms, and a final that encourage you to analyze and evaluate concepts covered under the above topics. Grades will be assigned as follows:

  • - Homework: Homework grades will collectively account for 15% of the total grade. You must work on homework by yourself.
  • - Labs (programming assignments): Programming assignments will collectively account for 25% of the total grade. Labs are done in groups of 3-4 students.
  • - Midterm 1: An open-book midterm exam will be held for 15% of the grade.
  • - Midterm 2: An open-book midterm exam will be held for 15% of the grade.
  • - Final: A final exam with be held for 20% of the grade.
  • - Class Participation: Accounts for 10%. Includes attendance, pop quizzes and class discussion.

Why are Real-time and Cyber-physical Systems Important?

This technology is also not in a vacuum. More sensors will lead to more data, which will lead to more analysis and more advancements with AI and machine learning. Everything is connected, figuratively and literally.

The need for [real-time edge analytics] is being driven by the mass of information being collected at the edge. The real expense is going to be shipping all that data back to the cloud to be processed when it doesn't need to be.

The Internet will disappear. There will be so many IP addresses, so many devices, sensors, things that you are wearing, things that you are interacting with, that you won't even sense it. It will be part of your presence all the time.