The challenge of keeping the development and implementation of real-time cyber-physical control systems, particularly for critical applications, reliable and efficient, and at the same time at low-cost and low-power, is getting harder. In resolving these issues regarding the reliability and efficiency of such systems, a strong emphasis of this research is in finding novel efficient solutions based on standardized or general-purpose and commercially available off-the-shelf hardware/software components. The AFFORD-IT research project addresses these challenging issues and open questions, with credible methodologies and approaches that lead to novel efficient solutions, validated in real-world cases. AFFORD-IT defines an open architectural framework in building reliable and cost-effective cyber-physical control systems and applications, based on general-purpose hardware/software components, minimizing the use of specialized components. In resolving these challenges, the proposal targets the following objectives:

• Develop novel software methods and system architectural frameworks that use general purpose hardware and software components in building reliable and cost-efficient cyber-physical control systems.
• Propose novel scenarios and develop algorithms that enable efficient and reliable functionality and operation of cyber-physical control systems particularly in real-time critical applications in manufacturing.
• Establish an open communication framework for reliable and secure exploitation of large-scale networked cyber-physical control systems based on general-purpose software/hardware, in real-time embedded applications.

AFFORD-IT aims at reliable development and operation of real-time cyber-physical control systems, deployed in Industrial IoT (IIoT). The outcomes of this research are expected to be worthy and have a positive impact on emerging areas such as IoT and embedded control systems, particularly in industry.

Research partner in H2020 GeoUS (2020-2022) research project: “Geothermal Energy in Special Underground Structures”. Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, VSB – Technical University of Ostrava. A top research cooperation between leading European universities and research centers focusing on the geothermal energy to increase the excellence of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, VSB – Technical University of Ostrava in these fields, and to reinforce the European position in the research and applications of thermal characterization and mathematical modelling of heat flows and temperature fields and in measurement and control of energy flows. (http://geous.vsb.cz/, http://geous.vsb.cz/other_partners.html#)

The proposal focuses into the advancement of the research in real-time embedded computing systems, particularly for safety critical applications, and the development of new algorithms, software methods, working scenarios and approaches that define a novel open architectural framework and infrastructure for building reliable and cost-efficient, large-scale, real-time embedded systems and applications. In particular, the proposed research project aims in providing the architectural framework of embedded computing devices capable to analyse real-time data coming from communicating intelligent applets (e.g., Android app) running in smart mobile devices, detect and decide timely (using Machine Learning algorithms, e.g., K-Means) upon vital life parameters. The efficiency of such edge computing services are crucial for critical real-time scenarios like health-based Internet of Things (IoT). In addition, the utilization of Machine Learning (ML) techniques at multiple stages of data processing optimizes the functionality of the entire system.

In this direction, this research applies credible and feasible methodologies (model-based and component-based design, formal verification, real-time scheduling) and state-of-the-art technologies (prototyping and validation, communications and networking) in an innovative enhanced way. The proposed developments include: novel software methods, algorithms and system architectural communication framework that use general-purpose hardware and software components and artificial techniques (such as ANNs and CNNs) in building reliable and cost-efficient embedded systems applied in efficient and timely real-time data detection, processing and decision support. As an outcome, such a system should be able to process large volumes of data streams generated by numerous clients devices (e.g., via smart phones, wearables devices, implants, other sensors, etc.) typically supported in cloud and edge computing, by using specialized techniques. Quality of Service (QoS) aspects and features, like efficiency, reliability and low latency with high-speed data processing and transmission, are also taken in consideration.

The research outcomes are expected to be worthy and have positive impact on emerging areas such as Internet of Things and embedded computing systems, particularly in real-time critical applications development in healthcare and services sector and other domains. This should be of particular interest since the impact of the Internet of Things on the advancement of the healthcare industry is immense.

The challenge of keeping the development and implementation of real-time control systems, particularly for critical applications, reliable and efficient, and at the same time at low-cost and low-power, is getting harder. This is due to the dependability and inflexibility of the specialized/custom-built hardware/software components, deployed often in key sectors (e.g., health-care, energy, military, industry), which impose extra undesirable costs, slow down the development and maintenance process, and limit the reusability and versatility of the final product/service.

In resolving these issues regarding the reliability and efficiency of such systems, a strong emphasis of this research is in finding novel efficient solutions based on standardized or general-purpose and commercially available off-the-shelf hardware/software components. Some of the competitive advantages of systems based on such components, include immediate availability and implementation, wide-range of applicability, versatility and extensibility. However, research shows that their performance in real-time safety-critical systems still remains under further investigation. Important issues remain with their reliability, timing, security and vulnerability in critical systems applications.

VIDAF is a multidisciplinary research project that focuses into the advancement of this research, through the development of new algorithms, software methods, working scenarios and approaches that define a novel open architectural framework and infrastructure for building reliable and cost-efficient, large-scale, real-time control systems and applications, based on such components, minimizing the use of custom-built solutions/products. In this direction, this research applies credible and feasible methodologies (model-based and component-based design, formal verification, real-time scheduling) and state-of-the-art technologies (prototyping and validation, communications and networking) in an innovative enhanced way, in order to achieve the objectives that concern the development and implementation of such systems. The research outcomes are expected to be worthy and have a positive impact on emerging areas such as Internet of Things and embedded control systems, particularly in real-time critical applications in industry and manufacturing.