An Analysis and Prototyping Approach for Cyber-Physical Systems

Sensors and effectors of all sorts are becoming more and more integrated in human everyday lives. Systems built on top of these sensors/effectors adding a cybernetic component in order to assist humans in their everyday life are called Cyber-Physical Systems. Such systems may be difficult to analyze and design, as they are composed of numerous interacting entities immerged in a dynamic and partially predictable environment. The goal of this paper is to propose a methodological approach based upon Multi-Agent Systems that has two main advantages. First it allows the decomposition of CPS structural and behavioral complexity and, second, it enables a prototyping by simulation approach that eases system validation.