Open Issues in Reuse of Certified Components in Cyber Physical Systems

Other conference contribution, 2013

In this paper we will discuss challenges and directions for component certification in cyber physical systems. Our experiences are based on a decade of research in this area in both more fundamental and more practically oriented projects. While the notion of Component-based Software Engineering has been coined half a century ago, practical use of components is still challenging. There has been much advancement in understanding component-technology. Also the problem of predictable assembly (how to predict properties of systems based on properties of its components) has been successfully solved for a variety of extra-functional properties. In this paper we distinguish embedded systems and cyber-physical systems. Embedded systems area a broad category of systems which include computer systems that are not visible to the end user. Cyber-physical system (CPS) is special category of embedded systems that feature a significant degree of autonomous action in a physical environment. Examples of cyber-physical systems can be found in areas as diverse as aerospace, automotive, civil infrastructure, healthcare, transportation.