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DISCLAIMER

Certain commercial entities, equipment, or materials may be identified in this document in order to 

describe an experimental procedure or concept adequately. Such identification is not intended to imply 

recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor is it 

intended to imply that the entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily the best available for the 

purpose.
Strategic Vision and 

Business Drivers for 21st

Century Cyber-Physical 

Systems 

Strengthening opportunities for U.S. leadership 

and competitiveness

EXECUTIVE ROUNDTABLE HIGHLIGHTS

January 2013

National Institute of Standards and Technology ● U.S. Department of Commerce
Table of Contents

Acknowledgments...................................................................................................v

List of Participants....................................................................................................vi

Executive Summary.................................................................................................1

1 Introduction........................................................................................................3

1.1 The Importance of Cyber-Physical Systems.................................................................... 3

1.2 Strategic Opportunities for CPS R&D.............................................................................. 5

1.3 Executive Roundtable Objectives and Approach........................................................... 6

2 Industry Perspectives ........................................................................................7

2.1 Strategic Vision ................................................................................................................... 7

2.2 Compelling Drivers ............................................................................................................ 8

3 Technology and Service Provider Perspectives.............................................9

3.1 Strategic Vision ................................................................................................................... 9

3.2 Compelling Drivers .......................................................................................................... 10

4 Academic and Government Perspectives...................................................12

4.1 Strategic Vision ................................................................................................................. 12

4.2 Compelling Drivers .......................................................................................................... 13

5 Cross-sector Collaboration ............................................................................15

6 References .......................................................................................................17
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks go to the plenary speakers who provided opening remarks, and to the panelists who 

contributed their perspectives on the strategic vision and drivers for cyber-physical systems as well as 

opportunities for future collaboration.

PLENARY SPEAKERS

• Patrick Gallagher, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and Director, 

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

• Farnam Jahanian, Assistant Director, Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) 

Directorate, National Science Foundation (NSF)

• Shyam Sunder, Director, Engineering Laboratory, NIST

• Janos Sztipanovits, Director, Institute for Software Integrated Systems, Vanderbilt University

PANELISTS

Industry

• Isaac Cohen, Director Systems Department, United Technologies Corporation 

 Brent Brunell, Technology Leader for Controls, Electronics & Signal Processing, General Electric

 Mark Rice, President, Maritime Physics Corporation

 Lonny Stormo, Vice President of Pre-market Quality and Reliability, Medtronic, Inc.

 Don Winter, Vice President, Engineering & Information Technology, Boeing Phantom Works

Technology and Service Providers 

• Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google

• Sujeet Chand, Sr. Vice President, Advanced Technology, and CTO, Rockwell Automation

• Himanshu Khurana, Senior Technical Manager, Honeywell

• Sky Matthews, CTO, IBM Rational Complex and Embedded Systems

• Pieter J. Mosterman, Senior Research Scientist, MathWorks

Government and Academia

• Tom Irvine, Deputy Associate Administrator, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

• Pradeep Khosla, Dean of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), incoming Chancellor 

of the University of California San Diego (UCSD)

• Keith Marzullo, Division Director, CISE Computer and Network Systems, NSF

• Jennifer Ricklin, Chief Technologist, Air Force Research Laboratory

• Bill Sanders, Donald Biggar Willet Professor of Engineering, University of Illinois

Special thanks are extended to the organizers from NIST, and to Energetics Incorporated and Nexight 

Group, who moderated the discussions and prepared this report.

NIST ORGANIZERS

Clare Allocca, Senior Advisor for Planning and Outreach, NIST Standards Coordination Office

Albert J. Wavering, Chief, Intelligent Systems Division, NIST Engineering Laboratory
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

INDUSTRY

Brent Brunell

General Electric Company

Vinton Cerf

Google

Sujeet Chand

Rockwell Automation

Isaac Cohen

United Technologies 

Corporation

Matthew Evans

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Himanshu Khurana

Honeywell Automation

Sky Matthews

IBM Rational Complex & 

Embedded Systems

Cynthia McIntyre

Council on Competitiveness

Pieter J. Mosterman

MathWorks

Mark Rice

Maritime Applied Physics 

Corporation

Lonny Stormo

Medtronic, Inc.

Don Winter

Boeing Phantom Works

UNIVERSITIES

John Baras

University of Maryland

James Davis

University of California-Los 

Angeles

Karen Kerr

University of Southern 

California 

Pradeep Khosla

USCD

William Sanders

University of Illinois

Janos Sztipanovits

Vanderbilt University

GOVERNMENT 

George Duchak

Air Force Research Laboratory

(AFRL), contractor

Patrick Gallagher, NIST

Helen Gill

NSF

Larry Goldberg

NSF

Jacob Hinchman

AFRL

Tom Irvine

National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration (NASA)

J Paul Jones

Food and Drug Administration

(FDA)

Farnam Jahanian

NSF

David Kuehn

U.S. Department of 

Transportation (DOT)

Chan Lieu

DOT

John Maddox

DOT

Keith Marzullo

NSF

Robert Neches

U.S. Department of Defense

Robert Pearce

NASA

Tom Peterson

NSF

Jonathan Porter

DOT

Jennifer Ricklin

AFRL

Shyam Sunder, NIST

Al Taylor

FDA
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 1

Executive Roundtable Highlights

Executive Summary

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) sponsored the Executive Roundtable on 

Cyber-physical Systems (CPS) in June 2012 as the third in a series of events to explore challenges that 

must be addressed to meet the fast-paced need for advances in CPS. Earlier events included a roundtable 

held in February 2012 with federal agencies who are or will be CPS stakeholders, from research and/or 

user perspectives. A major workshop on research and development (R&D) needs for CPS was held in 

March 2012 and brought together scientists and engineers from industry, academia, and government.

The Executive Roundtable on CPS was organized around panel discussions by industry, technology and 

service providers, and academic and government leaders in CPS. Each panel discussed their view of CPS 

in the future and compelling drivers for their involvement in moving the technology forward. Panel

viewpoints are summarized in Table E.1.

Table E.1. Summary of Vision and Compelling Drivers

INDUSTRY

USERS

TECHNOLOGY/SERVICE 

PROVIDERS

GOVERNMENT/

ACADEMIA

VISION

 Increasing cyber threats 

are changing our view of 

security.

 The U.S. must think 

globally to realize the 

potential of CPS.

 Great strides are needed

in multi-disciplinary 

system-level thinking.

 Human factors must be 

effectively addressed.

 Systems must be 

adaptable to changing 

environments and events.

 Large data sets will require new 

levels of controls for privacy 

and security.

 Multi-disciplinary approaches 

will shape future CPS.

 New liability issues will arise 

and need to be addressed.

 Global, standardized data will 

be available for expert systems

to extract.

 Advanced testing and modeling 

will lower the life cycle costs –

operations and maintenance as 

design – and improve efficiency.

 IT, networking, manufacturing, 

and automation will converge.

 Breakthroughs, synergies, and 

new frontiers will epitomize 

future CPS.

 A common science for CPS will 

be established.

 Availability, security, and 

safety of systems will be 

assured by integrated, multidisciplinary scientific 

approaches.

 Risk assessment and 

management metrics will link 

technical and business issues.

 A skilled CPS workforce will 

remain a high priority.

BUSINESS 

DRIVERS

 Attacks and intrusions on 

networks will grow, 

making protection of data 

harder and more 

expensive.

 Societal needs for CPS 

will increase consumer 

demand for functionality 

and reliability.

 U.S. leadership in CPS 

could open strategic 

markets in vital industries 

and grow domestic jobs. 

 Solving hard problems in 

security will continue to drive 

CPS design and use (both safe 

and secure).

 Payback will drive the 

implementation and expansion 

of CPS and infrastructures.

 Industry requirements will 

shape future CPS: advanced 

human-in-the-loop systems; 

accident-free actions; and 

monitoring and control 

integrated with data.

 Sectors and agencies will 

demand a secure CPS 

infrastructure and technology.

 Collaboration on CPS will be 

strongly driven by resource 

constraints.

 The ease and cost of systems 

integration and validation is a 

key driver for implementation.

 National priorities for defense, 

homeland security, energy, and

public health and safety are 

major drivers for CPS.
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 2

Executive Roundtable Highlights

COMMON BUSINESS DRIVERS

Cyber-security is a top driver for CPS across all public and private sectors. The number of attacks and 

intrusions on networks has grown exponentially and the vulnerability threat is expected to grow as 

systems become larger and more complex. The cost of cyber-security and staff is now a significant portion 

of operating costs for many organizations – and potentially on a par with purchases of hardware and 

software. A dilemma is to create systems that safe as well as usable – not systems that have so many 

layers of security they are difficult to use. Cyber-security must also be balanced with the ability to meet 

societal and market needs and be competitive in global markets. Entirely new levels and types of security 

will be needed to meet a wide range of domain-specific requirements.

Growing consumer and user demands, regardless of where they originate (ordinary citizens, industrial 

users, or mission-driven agencies) will shape the characteristics of future systems. As the advantages of 

CPS become more apparent and they penetrate wider markets, consumers will demand more 

functionality, reliability, and safety. Decisions will be increasingly removed from humans and become the 

purview of the computational core. This will require an even greater need to design systems that you can 

trust your life with.

Multi-disciplinary system-level thinking must be employed to shape future CPS. The availability, 

security, and safety of systems will be assured by the application of integrated, multi-disciplinary 

scientific approaches to design and implementation. A culture shift in this direction will be facilitated by 

multidisciplinary education and training to build a 21st century CPS workforce. 

COMMON TECHNICAL DRIVERS

Interoperability and communication protocols are required for highly connected and networked 

components to work together effectively as a total system and will drive future development. These 

include, for example, universal definitions for ultra-large heterogeneous systems; protocols to bridge 

digital and physical system components; and natural, more seamless human-CPS interactions.

Common reference architectures are needed for a range of CPS that enable model-based systems 

integration by combining cyber and engineered physical elements, adaptive and predictive systems with 

distributed control, wired and wireless systems, semi-autonomous and autonomous systems, and 

emerging and legacy systems. Current architectures have limited vocabulary to adequately represent 

physical elements and their interactions, and to enable structural consistency within these heterogeneous 

systems.

Standards-based platforms will help to assure performance and quality – both essential for spurring 

future investment, acceptance, and use of innovative systems. Standardized platforms will provide 

consistent requirements for security, safety, resilience, and reliability of systems, as well as a foundation 

for verification and validation of CPS in both design and practice. 

CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATION

There was strong consensus that achieving the potential of CPS will require an expeditious and concerted 

approach. While the advantageous applications have been identified, a 20-year timeline for research 

outcomes may be too long and too late to realize the opportunities. Collaboration will be needed to create 

the critical mass needed to move technology forward, at least in some areas. New mechanisms will be 

needed for cross-sector collaboration; existing models of collaboration may not be adequate to meet 

future needs for CPS. Important factors for successful collaboration in CPS R&D include communicating 

the importance of CPS, setting priorities, focusing on high-impact subjects, and developing collaborative 

relationships that take into account wide-ranging, diverse perspectives and interests.
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 3

Executive Roundtable Highlights

1 Introduction

1.1 The Importance of Cyber-Physical Systems

Systems that integrate the cyber world with the physical world are often referred to as cyberphysical systems (CPS). The computational and physical components of such systems are tightly 

interconnected and coordinated to work effectively together, sometimes with humans in the loop

(see Figure 1.1). The convergence of cyber and physical systems can yield many advantages. For 

example, in some cases a computational core can detect and respond faster than a human, be 

more precise than a human, never get tired, or can go into zones that are dangerous to humans.

CPS are enabling a new generation of 

‘smart systems’ – and the economic 

impacts could be enormous. The 

disruptive technologies emerging from 

combining the cyber and physical worlds

could provide an innovation engine for a 

broad range of U.S. industries, creating 

entirely new markets and platforms for 

growth. New products and services will 

bring the creation and retention of U.S. 

jobs. The nation will also benefit through 

greater energy and national security, 

enhanced U.S. competitiveness, and 

improved quality of life for citizens.

A number of reports have focused on the 

importance of CPS and the need to 

pursue R&D that will establish U.S. 

leadership in the field and enhance 

competitiveness in global markets 

(PCAST 2012, PCAST 2011; PCAST 2010, 

NITRD 2009). Improving public health 

and safety is also a national priority 

where CPS can have a significant impact.

The European Union is already investing 

$343 million per year for 10 years to 

pursue “world leadership” through 

advanced strategic research and technology development related to CPS (include $199 million 

per year in public funds and $144 million year in private funds) (EU 2012).

Figure 1.1. Characteristics of Cyber-Physical 

Systems

Cyber physical systems are hybrid networked cyber 

and engineered physical elements co-designed to 

create adaptive and predictive systems for enhanced 

performance.

Essential CPS characteristics: 

 Cyber, engineered, and human elements as treated 

as integral components of a total system to create 

synergy and enable desired, emergent properties 

 Integration of deep physics-based and digital world 

models provides learning and predictive 

capabilities for decision support (e.g., diagnostics, 

prognostics) and autonomous function 

 Systems engineering-based open architectures and 

standards provide for modularity and 

composability for customization, systems of 

products, and complex or dynamic applications 

 Reciprocal feedback loops between computational 

and distributed sensing/actuation and 

monitoring/control elements enables adaptive 

multi-objective performance 

 Networked cyber components provide a basis for 

scalability, complexity management, and resilience 
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 4

Executive Roundtable Highlights

Cyber-physical systems are rapidly becoming critical to the business success of many 

companies and the mission success of many government agencies. In transportation, 

manufacturing, telecommunications, consumer electronics, and health and medical equipment, 

and intelligent buildings the value share of electronics, computing, communications, sensing, 

and actuation is expected to exceed 50% of the cost by the end of the decade. CPS technologies, 

in the form of advanced robotics, computer-controlled processes, and real-time integrated 

systems, are critical for improving U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. 

With their unique functionalities, cyberphysical systems have the potential to change 

every aspect of life (see Figure 1.2). Concepts 

such as connected vehicle and highway 

systems, robotic surgery, intelligent buildings, 

smart electricity grid, and embedded medical 

devices are just some of the real-world 

examples that have already emerged. 

As systems continue to evolve they will rely 

less on human decision-making and more on 

computational intelligence. As we become 

more dependent on CPS, the challenge is to 

design systems that are dependable and 

reliable – systems we can trust our lives with. 

There is an opportunity for the United States 

is to gain competitive leadership through the 

ability to develop new cyber-physical systems 

with built-in assurance of their critical 

properties, including safety and security, and 

correct, timely performance of their intended 

functions. While progress is being made every 

day, advancements to cyber-physical systems 

continue to be challenged by a variety of 

technical (i.e., scientific and engineering), 

institutional, and societal issues. These range 

from technical system-level issues such as

interoperability, infrastructure, and reliability, 

to institutional challenges such as building a 

21st century CPS workforce and better business models and value propositions for next 

generation systems. A critical mass of research and development (R&D) will be required to 

overcome some of these challenges. 

Figure 1.2. Applications of CPS

Manufacturing: smart production equipment, 

processes, automation, control, and networks; 

new product design

Transportation: intelligent vehicles and traffic 

control, intelligent structures and pavements

Infrastructure: smart utility grids and smart 

buildings/ structures 

Health Care: body area networks and 

assistive systems 

Emergency Response: detection and 

surveillance systems, communication 

networks, and emergency response 

equipment 

Defense: soldier equipment systems, weapons 

systems and systems of systems, logistics 

GM Volt automated, robotic powertrain assembly. 

Photo: General Motors Image Gallery
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 5

Executive Roundtable Highlights

1.2 Strategic Opportunities for CPS R&D

In March 2012 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) sponsored the 

Foundations for Innovation in Cyber-Physical Systems Workshop to discuss the most 

important barriers and knowledge gaps affecting innovation and U.S. competitiveness in CPS. 

From that event emerged a set of strategic R&D opportunities for overcoming the critical 

barriers to CPS. Realizing these opportunities will ensure that the United States is a technology 

leader in the field of CPS and facilitate the development of reliable, safe, and secure systems. 

The strategic R&D opportunities identified include: 

• Robust, effective design and construction of systems and infrastructure—key to 

designing reliable systems from the ground up and reducing cost and time to market. 

The focus is on science and engineering foundations for cost-effective and secure system 

design, analysis, and construction; and managing the role of time and synchronization 

in architecture design.

• Improved performance and quality assurance—essential for spurring future 

investment, acceptance, and use of innovative systems that could provide revolutionary 

improvements to conventional practice. System performance, quality, and acceptance 

would be improved through system-level evaluation, verification, and validation of 

cyber-physical systems; science-based metrics for security, privacy, safety, resilience, 

and reliability; and uncertainty characterization and quantification. 

• Effective, reliable system integration and interoperability—required for highly 

connected and networked components to work together effectively as a total system. 

Applied development and deployment efforts would focus on universal definitions for 

representing ultra-large heterogeneous systems; inter-connected and interoperable 

shared development infrastructure; an abstraction infrastructure to bridge digital and 

physical system components; natural, more seamless human-CPS interactions; and 

systematic inter-process and interpersonal communication for sensors and actuators.

• Dynamic, multi-disciplinary education and training—will make possible sustained 

growth and innovation as well as the next generation of cyber-physical systems with a 

focus on workforce development for continuing innovation through multi-department 

CPS degrees and resources; and dynamic training and certification in CPS. 

The above strategic R&D opportunities are recurring themes that appear in multiple technology 

areas and consequently could have far-reaching impacts if addressed. 
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 6

Executive Roundtable Highlights

1.3 Executive Roundtable Objectives and Approach

The U.S. is well positioned to exploit the benefits of cyber-physical systems and has made 

significant strides in cutting-edge technology development and deployment. However, 

concerted efforts to conduct R&D as well as a global understanding of the business issues could 

be needed to remove barriers and find solutions to the challenges ahead.

On June 18, 2012, NIST convened a roundtable of senior executives from industry, government, 

and academia to explore the compelling business and mission drivers for CPS and to further 

articulate the strategic vision for research and development (R&D). The event built upon two 

prior events held to explore challenges that must be addressed to meet the fast-paced need for 

advances in CPS. These included a roundtable held in February 2012 with federal agencies and 

the March 2012 workshop discussed above. 

The Roundtable was assembled to provide an opportunity for sharing of crosscutting interests 

and ideas among the many stakeholder groups. Stage-setting remarks and presentations 

provided context; a roster of speakers is shown in the roundtable agenda, provided as 

Appendix A of this report. 

The Roundtable was structured around moderated panels focused on (1) industrial users of 

CPS, (2) technology and service providers, and (3) academic and government perspectives. Each 

panel was charged with addressing:

 Strategic vision: In 10-20 years, what do you see as the future role of cyber-physical 

systems in your products, processes, and organizational or business models?

 Compelling business drivers: What are the compelling business drivers for these 

changes? What changes in market demand do you foresee as drivers for CPS in your 

industry? 

 Collaboration opportunities: What collaborative opportunities exist to accelerate the 

pace of progress and adoption of CPS? What could potentially be gained through 

collaboration?

The highlights of Roundtable discussions are presented in this report and organized around the 

respective panels. They provide a cross-sector perspective on what the future holds as well as 

the key business drivers for moving technology forward. It is anticipated that this report will 

help guide high-level and strategic decision-makers as they plan research and development 

efforts to advance CPS and related platform technologies.
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 7

Executive Roundtable Highlights

2 Industry Perspectives

The Roundtable’s industry panel included 

executives from companies for which CPS is a key 

factor to future success and an integral part of 

operations or products (see Figure 2.1). Panelists 

ranged from small companies in emerging CPS 

markets to larger, global companies that have been

involved with CPS for many years and are 

increasingly challenged by the rapid pace of 

advances in the field.

With business interests ranging from healthcare to 

defense, panelists had a wide range of comments on 

CPS’s role in their future endeavors. Several key 

themes emerged from this panel session.

2.1 Strategic Vision

The industry panel reinforced the view that the future business opportunities made possible by 

advances in CPS are enormous. CPS will enable companies and industries to be at the forefront

of technological advances in many critical industries. The strategic vision for the future 

encompasses a number of tenets for achieving the promise of CPS.

The future potential for CPS is enormous, but we must think globally for U.S. industry to 

realize the opportunities.

 The market and product opportunities for CPS span all sectors of the economy – and 

there are significant markets outside the U.S.

 To be a leader in CPS, companies need to think globally. Systems must work in all 

countries – so standards and interfaces must be compatible around the world. Other 

countries are working on global compatibility – the U.S. must also if we want to be 

global leaders in CPS.

Great strides must be made in multidisciplinary system-level thinking.

 Multidisciplinary approaches at the system-level (and at large scales) will need to be 

employed to advance CPS.

Human factors must be effectively addressed from a variety of perspectives.

 CPS must allow for integration of humans with varying degrees of training into 

operational loops.

 Systems must be able to account for unpredictable human interventions and work 

seamlessly with humans when needed.

Figure 2.1. CPS Roundtable Industry 

Panel

 Isaac Cohen, Director Systems Department, 

United Technologies Corporation 

 Brent Brunell, Technology Leader for 

Controls, Electronics & Signal Processing, 

General Electric

 Mark Rice, President, Maritime Physics 

Corporation

 Lonny Stormo, Vice President of Pre-market 

Quality and Reliability, Medtronic, Inc.

 Don Winter, Vice President, Engineering & 

Information Technology, Boeing Phantom 

Works
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 8

Executive Roundtable Highlights

 Practitioners of the physical domains should be able to design CPS without 

becoming software engineers.

Increasing cyber-threats and attacks are changing the way we view security.

• Future systems that are highly integrated within companies and across supply chain 

boundaries will require entirely new kinds of security systems to deal with multiple 

wireless and other networking technologies.

• Systems will not be isolated but instead more closely connected; this could require a 

united approach to cyber-security and resilience to attack.

Systems must be adaptable to the changing environment.

• Ability to adapt and change with environmental conditions, including unforeseen 

events, is an essential capability for some CPS.

• Increasing complexity and heterogeneity of systems will increase challenges of 

engineering for flexibility.

Flexible collaboration is essential to industrial CPS R&D.

 Some companies want to collaborate pre-competitively, while some will want to 

collaborate on technology areas outside of their usual realm (e.g., technology 

companies are not necessarily software companies). Flexibility will be essential.

2.2 Compelling Drivers

The industry panel referenced a number of business drivers impacting the development and 

use of CPS. Several that were underscored are noted below.

 SECURITY: The number of attacks and intrusions on networks has skyrocketed. 

Vulnerability at the interfaces is especially great. In 10-20 years, it is anticipated that the

access and vulnerability threat will continue to grow. While IT costs were historically

incurred primarily for purchasing hardware, computer security staff is now a significant 

portion of operational costs. The day-to-day business of protecting data is getting much 

harder and more expensive.

 SOCIETAL NEEDS: CPS are increasingly fulfilling important societal needs and 

improving quality of life. For example, CPS could enable healthcare providers to 

manage chronic disease within the individual body. As society becomes more 

dependent on CPS, they will demand greater functionality and reliability – all with an 

affordable cost. 

 COMPETITIVENESS: By leading advances in CPS, the United States has the opportunity to 

capture strategic markets in healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, and other vital 

industries. This could improve our competition position in world markets, while 

accelerating domestic jobs creation along with new export and product markets.
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 9

Executive Roundtable Highlights

3 Technology and Service 

Provider Perspectives

The technology and service provider panel was 

comprised of technology executives from

companies with a wide range of interests, 

including those involved with Internet and 

network technologies, modeling and design 

tools, software, manufacturing automation,

energy controls, and cyber-security (see Figure 

3.1). All have a common interest – playing an 

integral role in the development of technologies 

and services that will drive future CPS.

3.1 Strategic Vision

A recurring theme for technology and service 

providers was the need for CPS to be robust, 

safe, secure, and trustworthy—with safety and security for both physical- and cyber-systems

together forming an overarching need for CPS. The future for CPS was envisioned in terms of 

characteristics of success, with an emphasis on the following.

A multi-disciplinary approach will be employed in developing future CPS solutions.

 Cultural and organizational challenges will be overcome; a convergence of 

application lifecycle, product lifecycle (hardware and software), and technical 

disciplines will be achieved.

 Physics and physical sciences will be integrated with computer science and 

mathematics to aid in understanding the overall system. 

Privacy and security issues will be addressed as advances are made in CPS.

 Large amounts of data integrated with CPS will increase privacy issues considerably.

 Authentication and access control, authorization, and duration will be effectively 

addressed (ephemeral access/authority, e.g., access to medical records).

 Controls developed in the past were designed to operate in a very trusted 

environment; a new level of security will be needed.

New liability issues will arise and require clarity.

 Designing software that is safe to use is paramount; regimes will be defined to

clarify when and how and under what conditions parties are liable.

Figure 3.1. CPS Roundtable 

Technology & Service Provider Panel

 Vinton Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet 

Evangelist, Google

 Sujeet Chand, Sr. Vice President, Advanced 

Technology, and CTO, Rockwell Automation

 Himanshu Khurana, Senior Technical Manager, 

Honeywell

 Sky Matthews, CTO, IBM Rational Complex and 

Embedded Systems

 Pieter J. Mosterman, Senior Research Scientist, 

MathWorks
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 10

Executive Roundtable Highlights

An agreed-upon set of global data will be established.

 A set of global data with agreed-upon structure and format will be accessible to

expert systems to extract knowledge and support decisions.

 Standards will be established to enable data to link with different kinds of models 

and life cycle artifacts. 

Advanced test and modeling capability will facilitate and lower cost of system design.

 Testing is more than 50% of the cost to deploy engineered systems. In future this cost 

will be reduced, making systems integration faster, cheaper, and more efficient. 

 More personalization of products and services, from search results to vehicles is 

being demanded. As a result, CPS will need to handle self-organizing systems and 

emergent behaviors.

 Model-based design is a key competitive differentiator and will be used across the 

design process, including co-design and integrating design. 

CPS will take into account the practical environment of various industry sectors, such as 

manufacturing. 

 CPS must integrate with legacy systems having billions of dollars of installed 

capacity, including dozens of different networks, multi-member products, and 

systems that are at least 20-25 years old.

 CPS must be usable by the humans involved. 

Technologies supporting CPS will continue to evolve. 

 CPS will mature over the next decade, and we will see a convergence between IT 

and networking, and manufacturing and automation. The Ethernet will be the 

common network used in manufacturing, rather than those used today.

3.2 Compelling Drivers

The technology and service provide panel emphasized drivers related to economic payback, 

security, and industry needs.

 PAYBACK: Companies that have invested billions in building IT infrastructures are now 

looking for payback. They have put enormous effort into redoing and connecting their 

systems, but challenges continue to emerge as technology rapidly advances. 

 SECURITY: Solving hard problems in security will continue to be a driver for CPS. For 

example, manufacturing is designed for safety, but security is critical. Access to 

machines is needed to make real-time changes in the plant, but this can create a security 

challenge. One extreme is to provide no access; another extreme is virtual private 

network (VPN) tunnels—this may not be feasible when some plants have thousands of

VPN tunnels into their operations.
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 11

Executive Roundtable Highlights

 INDUSTRY NEEDS: A range of industry requirements will drive future CPS. For example, 

in a smart electricity grid, the goal is a manageable, usable system supported by 

advanced analytics that provide highly effective timing and synchronization of power 

sources. While these are domain-specific, general requirement include:

o Monitoring and control systems integrated with an information layer;

o Accident-free actions managed by rule-based frameworks, from both regulatory

compliance and enterprise rule perspectives; and

o Advanced human-in-the-loop systems for higher productivity—CPS must 

support user needs through access and decision-making.
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 12

Executive Roundtable Highlights

4 Academic and Government 

Perspectives

The academic and government panelists 

included program leaders from the National 

Science Foundation (NSF), National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA), and the Air Force Research 

Laboratory (AFRL), as well as leading 

researchers from top universities (see Figure 

4.1). NASA and AFRL both emphasized the 

need for mission-relevant advances in CPS.

NSF noted that CPS is woven into a number 

of its programs and is a key focus area. In the 

universities, CPS is pursued from a 

multidisciplinary, systems viewpoint 

applicable to a wide variety of industry 

sectors.

4.1 Strategic Vision

This panel underscored the need for those seeking to advance CPS R&D to communicate to 

decision-makers simply and effectively what the outcomes and benefits are. The need for

system-level thinking and program design by funding agencies was also emphasized; the 

capability to conduct research on large systems will be necessary to foster advances in CPS.

Motivating students and the workforce to gain skills in CPS was identified as a high priority. 

Research and development ‘grand’ challenges focused on visionary ideas in CPS could be one 

way to excite students and build the next generation workforce. Engaging people at all levels to 

support and embrace new technology is a key objective.

Visionary themes discussed emphasize revolutionary technologies and outcomes from 

successful development of CPS.

Breakthroughs, synergies, and new frontiers will epitomize future CPS.

 Citizen-sensing could emerge, such as phones that correlate vibrations to predict 

earthquakes;

 Affordable smart homes will enable elderly and disabled people to live 

independently;

 Assistive medical technology will use sensors to activate paralyzed muscles; and

 A smart grid could guarantee no blackouts.

Figure 4.1. CPS Roundtable Government 

and Academia Panel

 Tom Irvine, Deputy Associate Administrator, 

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration

 Pradeep Khosla, Dean of Engineering, Carnegie 

Mellon University (CMU), incoming Chancellor of 

the University of California San Diego (UCSD)

 Keith Marzullo, Division Director, CISE 

Computer and Network Systems, NSF

 Jennifer Ricklin, Chief Technologist, Air Force 

Research Laboratory

 Bill Sanders, Donald Biggar Willet Professor of 

Engineering, University of Illinois
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 13

Executive Roundtable Highlights

A common unified system of science for CPS will be established.

 Approaches will make use of sound mathematical techniques with proven quality.

 Multi-disciplinary approaches will be incorporated. 

 A common roadmap will help to guide R&D across domains in critical cross-cutting 

fields (e.g., like the semiconductor industry).

Availability, security, and safety of systems are assured by integrated approaches based 

on sound science and engineering. 

 A science of cyber-physical resilience will emerge; physical as well as cyberinfrastructure will be engineered for resiliency.

 Systems respond to and manage cyber and physical events in a holistic manner 

including sensors, actuators, response algorithms and engines, etc.;

 Systems will be engineered via multi-disciplinary, system-level thinking and 

integration strategies;

 Both physical and cyber infrastructures are engineered for resiliency; and

 Systems operating in possibly hostile environments perform as expected; control is 

provided at multiple levels, so systems are trustworthy, including both physical and 

cyber components and their interaction; when intrusions do succeed, systems detect 

and respond.

Metrics are developed for CPS risk assessment and management that link technical and 

business concerns.

 Metrics will enable comparison between alternatives and make a business case for 

design elements.

 Metrics for security are essential.

Growing the workforce in CPS remains a high priority.

 Multi-disciplinary educational programs will be needed to create a next generation 

workforce capable of designing, developing, and implementing CPS.

4.2 Compelling Drivers

Academic and government panelists emphasized that resources and security would be major 

drivers for R&D as well as deployment of CPS in future.

 RESOURCES: Academic and government panelists emphasized that collaboration on CPS 

is strongly driven by resource constraints. CPS R&D is underway in many programs, 

but with declining resources, critical mass is needed for federal programs and academic 

research to achieve the needed results.

 SECURITY: All sectors desire a secure CPS infrastructure and technology, and agency 

missions demand it. For example, in energy applications, trustworthy, algorithm-based,

intrusion-tolerant CPS infrastructure and technologies are required for a wide variety of 
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 14

Executive Roundtable Highlights

needs, such as wide area monitoring and control; and real time, secure, and convergent

power grid networks. 

 SYSTEMS INTEGRATION: The ease with which systems can be readily integrated will be a 

key driver for implementation of future CPS. System integration is a difficult and costly 

challenge and is tantamount to the elephant in the CPS china shop.

 NATIONAL PRIORITIES: National priorities for defense, homeland security, energy 

efficiency and diversity, and health and safety will continue to be major drivers for CPS. 

Affordable warfighting technologies for air and space, as well as a cyber-space fighting 

force, are heavily dependent on advances in CPS. Aerospace systems, information 

systems, materials and manufacturing, and munitions all incorporate CPS as integral 

components. Military bases across the country and around the world rely on private 

sector CPS. 
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 15

Executive Roundtable Highlights

5 Cross-sector Collaboration

The challenge of CPS cuts across industrial sectors and agency missions, and in some cases 

represents high-risk or complex R&D that exceeds the ability of individual organizations. The

panels were asked to provide their perspectives on the opportunities and options for multiple 

sector collaboration to advance CPS.

There was strong consensus that achieving the potential of CPS will require an expeditious and 

concerted approach. The advantageous applications have already been identified – and a 20-

year timeline for research outcomes may be too long and too late. Collaboration may be needed 

to create the critical mass needed to move technology forward, at least in some areas. New 

mechanisms will be needed for cross sector collaboration; existing models of collaboration will 

likely not be adequate to meet future needs for CPS. The most important factors for successful 

collaboration in CPS R&D discussed included communicating the importance of CPS, setting 

priorities, focusing on high-impact subjects first, and developing collaborative relationships 

using existing models that take into account wide-ranging and diverse perspectives and 

interests. These factors are further described below.

 COMMUNICATION: Communicating the importance and impact of CPS R&D is a 

collaborative priority. CPS is a complex subject, and effectively describing the benefits of 

R&D outcomes is essential to gaining buy-in from decision makers, researchers, and 

users. Engagement and commitment is needed to support collaborative CPS R&D, as 

well as policies and approaches that facilitate collaboration at all levels.

 PRIORITY SETTING: Priorities should be collaboratively set to create a focused plan for 

CPS R&D which covers a wide-open field of topics. Opportunities for collaboration 

within priorities can then be identified and nurtured. Stakeholders must accept that not 

all of the identified challenges need to be addressed to make progress. The CPS space is 

so large that efforts should be targeted to focus first on areas that constitute a resonant 

“call to action”: those with the potential achieve the most rapid progress, maximize 

impacts, and engage as many stakeholders as possible. Early results are essential for the 

“call to action” research, whether precompetitive or applied. A two-pronged approach is 

possible—including (1) “call to action,” short-term, high-priority research that can be

implemented early on and (2) a more comprehensive “roadmap” based on cross-cutting 

opportunities, commonalities, and needs that can be implemented over the longer term. 

Such as approach might be the most effective for collaborative CPS R&D efforts. The 

semiconductor industry’s approach was cited as an example collaboration model that 

might work for CPS.

 COLLABORATOR PERSPECTIVES: For collaborations to succeed, the diverse roles and 

interests of key government, industry, and academic participants must be understood, 

so the best options for collaborative models can be pursued. Considerations will include 
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 16

Executive Roundtable Highlights

the constraints of declining R&D budgets, the need for some organizations to maintain a 

specific mission-centric focus, technical silos, disciplinary focus, and intellectual 

property or proprietary information concerns. 
Strategic Vision and Business Drivers for 21st Century Cyber-Physical Systems 17

Executive Roundtable Highlights

6 References

NITRD 2009. High-Confidence Medical Devices: Cyber-Physical Systems for 21st Century Health Care, the 

Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program, February 2009. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/cyber/NITRD%20-%20HighConfidence%20Medical%20Devices.pdf

PCAST 2012. Report to the President on Capturing Domestic Competitive Advantage in Advanced 

Manufacturing, Executive Office of the President, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and 

Technology (PCAST), July 2012. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast_amp_steering_committee_report

_final_july_27_2012.pdf

PCAST 2011. Ensuring American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing, Executive Office of the President, 

PCAST, June 2011. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-advancedmanufacturing-june2011.pdf

PCAST 2010. Designing a Digital Future: Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and 

Development in Networking and Information Technology, Executive Office of the President, PCAST,

December 2010. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-nitrd-report2010.pdf

EU 2012. The ARTEMIS Embedded Computing Systems Initiative, October 2012. 

http://www.artemis-ju.eu/