Cyber-Security and Cyber-Physical Systems and the Internet of Things

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Our society relies upon cyber-infrastructure in the form of the Internet, telecommunications, the power grid, computer servers and so forth to undergird commerce, the financial systems, and many other essential functions of contemporary society.  Given the trend to connect devices and systems of all manners and scales, such as medical devices, or manufacturing plants, to the Internet or other networks, there is a need for fundamental inquiry into the design of hardware, software, and algorithms in such cyber-physical systems.  In particular, such cyber-physical systems are expected to execute mission-critical tasks essential to contemporary society, and so the performance issues of security, self-healing and adaptation, and robustness are of paramount importance.

Current ECE focus:

ECE faculty members are currently working on basic analytical models for cyberphysical systems and cyberphysical security, such as the design of a secure Internet, cloud/edge computing systems, Internet of Things, mobile networks and smart grids.  ECE faculty are also working on distributed data fusion and multi-agent systems which has application to the issues related to distribution decision making and consensus regarding the state of real-time interconnected cybersphysical systems that are attempting to make sense of their operational data.

Opportunities for Interdisciplinary Collaboration:

This research thrust is related to a similar thrust in the College of Arts & Sciences (complex systems), and so collaboration with other STEM faculty in A&S is possible.  In addition, this thrust is intimately related to how people use technology, and so collaboration with faculty in the social sciences (e.g., psychology, sociology) is also possible, as well as with the Miller School of Medicine (robust connected medical devices, systems, and secure health records/databases), and School of Architecture (smart buildings and cities).

COE Thrust Supported: Sustainability and Resilience and Data Sciences

Graduate Courses Offered: 

ECE 673 (Information Assurance), ECE 675 (Digital Forensics), ECE 676 (Internet and    Intranet Security), ECE 678 (Network Security)

Number of PhD Students and Research Personnel: 3 

Faculty Participants

Coordinator:  Jie Xu
ECE Members: Jie Xu, Hammam Alsafrjalani

Other Departments & Schools Participants: Ramin Moghaddass (Industrial Engineering), Dilip Sarkar and Burton Rosenberg (Computer Science)