Title:	Complexity Reduction and Control Architecture Patterns
Date:	July 27, 2009 (Monday)
Time:	10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Venue:	Room 121, 1/F, Ho Sin-hang Engineering Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T.
Speaker:	Professor Lui Sha Donald B. Gillies Chair Professor of Computer Science University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign USA

ABSTRACT:

The convergence of sensing, control, communication and coordination in cyber-physical systems (CPS) such as modern airplanes, the power grid, transportation systems, and medical device networks, poses enormous challenges because of their complexity. The following aspects seem particularly challenging:

- Distributed and concurrent interactions between the cyber and physical subsystems.

- Strong QoS requirements including real-time, fault tolerance, safety and security requirements.

System complexity implies an overwhelming number of states to be checked. Furthermore, in many complex CPS systems, there are components that are beyond verification. For example, after a major surgery, a patient is allowed to "operate" an infusion pump with potentially lethal pain killers (patient controlled analgesia (PCA)). When pain is severe, the patient can push a button to get more pain-relieving medication. This is an example of a safety critical device controlled by an error-prone operator (the patient). Nevertheless, the PCA system as a whole needs to be certifiably safe in spite of mistakes made by the patient.

In this talk, we will review the use of formal architecture patterns for the reduction and control of system complexity.

BIOGRAPHY:

Lui Sha graduated with Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 1985. He currently is Donald B. Gillies Chair professor of Computer Science at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He is a fellow of the ACM and IEEE. His work transformed the IEEE standards on real time computing and was cited as a major accomplishment of computer science in National Academy of Science's report: A Broader Agenda for Computer Science and Engineering. His work was also cited as a key enabling technology for many high technology projects, including GPS upgrade, the Mars Pathfinder and the International Space Station. He served on US National Academy of Science's study committee on certifiably dependable software, and is currently a member of the steering group for Cyber Physical Research Initiative.

Enquiries: Miss Temmy So at tel 2609 8444

For more information, please refer to http://www.cse.cuhk.edu.hk/seminar