In the first decade of the 21st century, the cyber world and the physical world were considered as two different entities. However, in the literature we can easily find that these two entities are closely correlated with each other after integration of sensor and actuators in the cyber systems. Cyber systems became responsive to the physical world by enabling real-time control emanating from conventional embedded systems, thus giving birth to a new research paradigm named the cyber-physical system (CPS). In this chapter, we investigate the major challenges in integrating the cyber world with the physical world and its applications, followed by the basics and fundamentals of CPS. In addition, we discuss the CPS requirements for building its architectures, which should contain several modules supporting the CPS. The motivation of this chapter is to provide an overview of the CPS and the prerequisite knowledge for modeling and simulations.

Several emergent technologies, including mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs), machine to machine (M2M), wireless sensor networks (WSNs), and cyber-physical systems (CPSs), are actually sharing fundamental features and complementing each other towards allowing spatially distributed devices to interoperate regardless of their software and hardware components. In this chapter, we make a rough comparison between some of these technologies with the aim of clarifying the position of CPS with respect to the others. We particularly outline the challenges related to CPS design while focusing on the main components of these systems by depicting some high-level architectures found in the literature. Since a CPS is basically better understood within its context of use, we review several examples of architectures proposed in a variety of domains, including healthcare, smart space, emergency and real time, control, environment, and intelligent transportation. To meet the requirements of these domains, the role of WSN technologies and their contributions to CPS are highlighted. Finally, we propose a new architecture where WSN technologies, multi-agent system paradigm, and natural ecosystems are combined to enable CPS design and operations.

A WSN-CPS is a cyber-physical system (CPS) where the communication between the physical and cyber components is guaranteed through wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In this chapter we aim to give a comprehensive overview of the data management problem in WSN-CPSs. For the sake of clarity, the overview is organized into three main parts. Given that data management in WSNs has been the subject of substantial research works, and given the overlap between WSNs and WSN-CPSs, in the first part we take a comparative approach in order to identify what makes data management in WSN-CPSs different from data management in WSNs. Based on the state of the art, we identified three main constraints that need to be dealt with by data management solutions in the context of WSN-CPSs: (1) mobility of sensing and actuating devices, (2) high-level knowledge extraction from heterogeneous low-level data, and (3) real-time reaction to events of interest. In the second part we discuss how these three constraints are shaping current solutions proposed in the literature to address WSN-CPSs' data management activities, such as mobile data collection, data processing, storage, and querying. In the third part, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of using cloud computing to support data management in WSN-CPSs.

Cyber physical systems (CPSs) represent the new generation of systems as the integration of computational and physical resources with significant computation, sensing, communication, and control capabilities. Noting the limited battery energy, limited memory, and finite spectrum available in each wireless sensor node, development of more efficient resource allocation methods becomes critical in these networks. The question is whether the physical layer presents more opportunities for efficient resource allocation or whether medium access control is the place to implement such methods, or perhaps higher layers. This chapter attempts to answer this question by reviewing the state of the art in the literature and proposing some new ideas and future research directions to complement recent results. In particular, we review recent game theory approaches that not only optimize key performance metrics under system constraints but also make a balance between the system overall efficiency and fairness in the resource allocation policy. This fundamental study involves new policy design for scheduling, routing, and transmission for basic multiple access scenarios. It paves the way for designing and optimizing next-generation networks with an arbitrary number of mobile nodes having a wide range of capabilities, such that the overall performance of the system is kept as high as possible while the nodes with poor local conditions do not deprive from basic service requirements. A comprehensive study of recent results in the literature is provided to put this multidimensional optimization problem into the right context. Various examples and scenarios are introduced and some approaches to analyze them are discussed.

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) receive considerable attention as one of the key and enabling technologies of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) that, in turn, present a new computing paradigm now and into the future. WSNs are open to a wide range of potential applications, such as environmental monitoring, human health monitoring, target detection and tracking, and industrial process control. To be smart and highly efficient services are the present and future demand of WSNs. In this chapter, we aim to introduce the fundamentals of an intelligent wireless sensor network (iWSN) and its requisites, characteristics, and applications. Also, we distinguish between the traditional WSN and the iWSN. First, the definition and properties of an intelligent system are described. Then we explain how a WSN can be deployed in a cyber-physical system and provide the facility for communications among different components of the system. In the next sections, various characteristics of an iWSN, its applications, and comparison to WSN are highlighted. Two applications of WSN, comprising smart grid and smart field monitoring system for pest control, will be introduced and compared in terms of the features of intelligence they require.

The most representative form of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) involves wireless sensor networks (WSNs) as the main means to interact with physical entities. This chapter reviews a number of such WSN-CPS applications and reveals how these applications bridge the gap between sensing information in the cyber world and diverse entities in the physical world. We divide these applications into five categories: smart space systems, healthcare systems, emergency response systems, human activity inference, and smart city systems. Smart space systems monitor energy usage, temperature, and various other attributes of appliances in an indoor space. Healthcare systems assist people to improve physical and emotional well-being through automatic sensing and sense-making technologies. Emergency response systems search for and rescue people as soon as possible in emergency situations such as fire outbreaks. Human activity inference systems interpret human intention behind sensing information to facilitate human daily activities related to social events, road safety, mood detection, interactive games, etc. Smart city systems concentrate on city dynamics such as urban environmental monitoring, human mobility, and transport information. Our discussion in this chapter is steered from simple to complex systems in terms of networking technologies, service ranges, system integration, and human engagement. We conclude by discussing important technical components, future trends, and open issues in WSN-CPS applications in order to provide readers with technical pointers for designing next-generation WSN-CPS applications.