Interdisciplinary Approach to Cyber-physical Systems Training

Radda A. Iureva

, Artem S. Kremlev

, Alexey A. Margun, Sergey M. Vlasov,

Sergey D. Vasilkov

, Alexandr V. Penskoi, Dmitry E. Konovalov

and Pavel Y. Korepanov

ITMO University, Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Keywords: Transdisciplinary Approach, Cyber-physical Systems Training, Inter-disciplinary, Design of Cyber-physical

Systems.

Abstract: In this paper, the authors examine the importance of a transdisciplinary approach to cyber-physical systems

training. The article concludes that it is necessary to introduce new educational models that will contribute to

the formation of innovative thinking of master students. The use of a multidisciplinary approach in the training

of master students is substantiated, and a combined scheme of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary methods

is proposed on the example of the disciplines "Cyber-physical systems and technologies." Specialization lies

in the fact that not only the available baggage knowledge, but also ways to find their knowledge in a new

application, including in non-standard conditions, readiness for self-development and improvement

information. The ability of the current educational model to meet the requirements has been established.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a new stage in the

development of society, the foundation of which is

the previous revolution, and the main driving force is

the availability of the latest technologies. Cyberspace

technology has become an integral part of our world.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is based on the

integration of business and society — their common

goal is to empower people and organizations through

the democratization of access to innovative

information technologies. Restoration of economic

growth and productivity is our common goal, in

which new technologies will play the leading role. It

remains only to answer the question, what technology

will become the fundamental Industry 4.0. Thus,

according to the data of the World Economic Forum,

the chances of taking a leading position in cyber-

physical systems (CPS) (see Fig. 1).

CPS are priority technological areas, the most

relevant applications of CPS are health care, driving,

performing various operations in an aggressive

environment (for example, increased background

radiation), industrial manufacturing.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7248-5604

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7024-3126

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3655-5994

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9973-8202

Figure 1: The place of cyber-physical systems in the

development of Industry 4.0.

Thus, the purpose of this methodological manual is

a prospective study of CPS (design, control systems,

information security). It is expected that CPS will

allow minimizing human participation in the

production process, as well as in many other areas of

society. Shortly, improvements in science and

technology will strengthen the connection between

the computational and physical elements of technical

systems, thereby increasing their autonomy,

Iureva, R., Kremlev, A., Margun, A., Vlasov, S., Vasilkov, S., Penskoi, A., Konovalov, D. and Korepanov, P.

Interdisciplinary Approach to Cyber-physical Systems Training.

DOI: 10.5220/0007918306230626

In Proceedings of the 16th Inter national Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (ICINCO 2019), pages 623-626

ISBN: 978-989-758-380-3

623

efficiency, functionality, adaptability, security, and

usability of systems of this class.

Automation of production will partially eliminate

the need of enterprises for low-skilled labor, and it

will be necessary to involve specialists to monitor the

processes and manage the CPS.

This development raises the questions if our

current educational programs are relevant or not if we

need to develop new "interdisciplinary" program to

teach master students, to help them to become great

specialists, or should we aim for a new discipline.

2 INTERDISCIPLINARY

TRAINING

Nowadays many universities all over the world, even

well-known Universities, may not currently have the

expertise or resource to establish CPS education

programs, though CPS lies in the base of Industry 4.0.

Every year things around us become more and more

“independent” and “reasonable”. Virtually no device

can do without its own "electronic brain". Production,

research and everyday life are carried out with the

participation of robots and devices with automatic

control (unmanned vehicles, smart homes, the

Internet of things). A person tends to devote more

time to cognitive and creative activity, while complex

processes provide robotic systems and SMART

devices. A useful alternative in these cases is to forge

more limited partnerships among several branches to

implement jointly taught courses. This idea lied in the

new course at ITMO University called “Cyber-

Physical Systems and Technologies.” As far key CPS

content could be introduced into mechatronics,

robotics, or security courses cooperating of specialists

from different branches help to reduce the burdens

associated with CPS throughout engineering and

building the courses one would need to implement a

CPS program. In instance, a theory course developed

to include students from computer science and

mechanical engineering, as well as traditional control

theory, will produce a new class of the sort that is

needed for CPS.

Under the conditions of modern society, the

master student becomes the central figure of the

educational process, which inevitably leads to a

change in the entire educational paradigm. The area

of use of cyber-physical processes is very many-

sided: from industrial production, construction,

transport, energy saving to medicine. “Smart grids”

are a prime example of the use of cyber-physical

systems that combine several production stations,

carrying out load balancing and pricing. The purpose

of the lecturer is the creation of comfortable

conditions for self-determination and self-realization

of the individual. In a rapidly changing world, it is not

enough to possess a certain amount of knowledge; it

is necessary to have the skills to search for the

information which is necessary to solve various kind

of problems (design, control, security, etc). In this

case, the search for information, in this case, should

be understood on a broader sense - as a process

closely related to the ability of the researcher to

consider the problem from different angles, perhaps

even in a different formulation, different from

traditional approaches. Thus, a new educational

model should develop in students the ability to

independently develop an integrated system for

solving professional problems.

3 COPYRIGHT

CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS

AND TECHNOLOGIES

TRAINING COURSE

Educational researchers have identified some distinct

educational benefits of interdisciplinary learning

including gains in the ability to:

- Recognize bias;

- Think critically;

- Tolerate ambiguity;

- Acknowledge and appreciate ethical concerns.

Knowledge of the subject area, presented in the

form of lectures, nodes, presentations, textbooks,

scientific articles and so on form the basis for

development, and the supervisor acts as a consultant

whose task is not to teach, but suggest the direction of

the search, to help sort out a complex issue, ultimately

- to try to streamline the current knowledge of the

master student. In the case of interdisciplinarity, the

master student gets the opportunity to consider the

problem comprehensively, he can try to develop the

project innovatively, relying not only on the

knowledge of his field but also using related

disciplines. From a formal point of view, there is no

need to be limited only to the disciplines adjacent to

the specialty of the master student, but in fact, the

amount of information available for meaningful

processing is still limited, as is the limited amount of

knowledge available. Despite the lack of academic

rigor of this approach, it is entirely natural, because it

eliminates the contradiction at the level of cognition.

In the case of the training course “Cyber-Physical

Systems and Technologies” it was divided into parts:

ICINCO 2019 - 16th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics

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1. Designing of CPS and system concept;

2. Control systems design;

3. Designing the info-communication component of

the CPS;

4. The regulatory framework for CPS operation;

5. Industrial CPS design.

Each part has the main themes to be discussed can

be seen in fig.2.

Figure 2: Themes to discuss in training course “Cyber-

Physical Systems and Technologies”.

Upon completion of the discipline the

undergraduate must know the computing platforms of

embedded computing systems, examples of creating

circuits for microprocessor technology, principles,

methods and stages of the implementation of CPS;

principles of checking the security of the CPS to the

occurrence of a destructive information impact; be

able to apply modern approaches, methods and tools

for the development and operation of CPS, design

alternatives; own methods of calculation and

instrumental assessment of the results of the

implementation of a protected CPS, the concept of the

typical structure of the embedded system.

There are distinct phases during the training

course for each theme (table 1), adapted for a large

number of students. A total number of students in the

stream is nearly 300 persons, divided into 19 student

groups. The initial phase starts with a new theme in

the lecture hall for the stream. Strengthening practical

skills continue in student groups divided into small

groups (3-4 persons) trying a study case. Now, having

enough skills, it is proposed to solve a control case to

consolidate knowledge.

The last phase is a final step to test knowledge and

skills. To increase motivation in getting theoretical

and practical fundamentals, a speaker is chosen

randomly from his small group. The university

applies a score-rating system on which the discipline

program is based. Depending on student activity in

the second phase, as well as on the quality of his

speech and answers to the questions, points are

awarded. Also, each theme is read and hold by a new

lecturer.

Table 1: Phases for each theme in the training course.

Phase

Locatio

Description

Duration

Initial

Lecture

hall

Lection in stream

(all students of the

year of the

department)

2 hours

Second

Seminar

class

Interactive group

work – analyze

and carry out a

study case

2 hours

Third

Home/

Library

Unsupervised

work in small

groups with a

control case

4 hours

Fourth

Seminar

class

Control case

defense (randomly

selected speaker

from small group)

2 hours

Master students who are regularly exposed to

classroom conversations and assignments that tackle

real-world problems in an interdisciplinary fashion;

engage in significant learning, realize cognitive gains

and are better positioned to understand challenging

problems and to frame viable solutions.

At the core of the course lies the teaching of core

system modelling and model integration techniques

based on CPS design (fig.3).

Figure 3: Core of CPS educational program.

The approach is to develop CPS specialization

within existing engineering program and embedded

systems. Specific tutorials and group work follow

lectures in order to let master students connect theory

with practice. Embedded systems and engineering

program share similarities with systems engineering

in the sense that they are interdisciplinary subjects.

Embedded systems or engineering program can be

based be taught as a separate domain.

Interdisciplinary Approach to Cyber-physical Systems Training

625

4 CONCLUSIONS

In modern conditions, the competitiveness of a

university is determined by its ability to train

specialists demanded on the labor market. It is often

the case that the disciplinary educational model

existing in higher educational institutions does not

meet the task of training a high-class specialist from

modern employers and solving promising tasks in

industry. The current global conjuncture of manufacture

companies is massively striving to develop CPS and

gives a chance to educational programs, especially

technological and engineering, to become the

flagships of the emerging market of CPS

technologies. Today, CPS is at the first stage. In the

nearest future, we expect developments that greatly

simplify everyday life. “Smart” everything will

independently order products in the store when the

refrigerator is empty. Fitness bracelet on temperature,

pulse and pressure will understand that its owner is

sick, and send the information to the doctor. The front

door will scan the retina of the visitor’s eyes and will

not let the stranger into the house. Unmanned cars,

connecting to the Internet, will choose the best route

without traffic jams and relieve traffic. CPS

professionals can choose from a variety of professions,

from business analyst to cyber security specialist. The

need for qualified employees to create and manage

smart home, smart city and smart manufacturing

systems is increasing every year. Disciplinary

knowledge, which is often outdated or too divorced

from practice, and lack of skills related to the ability

to solve non-standard tasks, work in mixed groups,

master new areas of knowledge, etc., are critically

evaluated. An interdisciplinary approach allows us to

solve a number of these problems, such as in the

course “Cyber-physical systems and technologies,”

where students reviewed the problems of developing

the systems underlying Industry 4.0, from all sides -

design study, control systems, information security,

info-communication component. In a nutshell, the real-

world problems are involved, so no single discipline

can adequately describe and resolve all issues. The

integration of branches and themes across the

disciplines was achieved by carefully selecting the

right content, and case studies to coincide with the

computer science, engineering, security, control, and

mathematics content being discussed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was financially supported by Government

of Russian Federation (Grant 08-08).

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