Convener: Prof Simon Maskell, University of Liverpool
Cyber-physical systems (CPS) or “Industry 4.0” are connected systems that act largely autonomously, continuously interacting with their environment, controlled by efficient embedded software. This concept is starting to find its way into consumer electronics, medical devices, environmental monitoring, traffic control and safety, process control, energy production and distribution, critical infrastructure control such as water and communications, robotics and manufacturing. A large-scale particle accelerator foreseeing tens of thousands of sensors and actuators is an ideal test-bed for this emerging technology. Addressing the reliability, availability, maintainability, supportability and safety challenges of the FCC with CPS opens up new opportunities for testing product lines and potentially provides the research community with a tool to build a more reliable and energy efficient infrastructure.
