Keith A. Stouffer

Manufacturing planning and predictive process model integration using software agents

Intelligent agents provide a means to integrate various manufacturing software applications. The agents are typically executed in a computer-based collaborative environment, referred to as a multi-agent system. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a prototype multi-agent system supporting the integration of manufacturing planning, predictive machining models, and manufacturing control. The agents within this platform have access to a knowledge base, a manufacturing resource database, a numerical control programming system, a mathematical equation solving system, and a computer-aided design system. Intelligence has been implemented within the agents in rules that are used for process planning, service selection, and job execution. The primary purposes for developing such a platform are to support the integration of predictive models, process planning, and shop floor machining activities and to demonstrate an integration framework to enable the use of machining process knowledge with higher-level manufacturing applications.

Trust but Verify Critical Infrastructure Cyber Security Solutions

Critical infrastructure cyber security solutions for industrial control systems are touted by the sellers as standards-based and comprehensive. Buyer beware, most of these claims are highly exaggerated. Only the International Society for Automation (ISA) is developing standards that are comprehensive in the sense that cyber security requirements control systems are defined as an extension of the security policies for the enterprise. Furthermore, these ISA standards include requirements that account for the dynamics induced by human behavior and the constraints imposed by external interfaces that are not directly controlled by the enterprise owner. This paper describes the seven foundational requirements codified in ISA-99.01-01 and the derived system requirements and metrics. The paper concludes with example security metrics recommended to verify the quality of cyber solutions offered.

Towards a systematic threat modeling approach for cyber-physical systems

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are systems with seamless integration of physical, computational and networking components. These systems can potentially have an impact on the physical components, hence it is critical to safeguard them against a wide range of attacks. In this paper, it is argued that an effective approach to achieve this goal is to systematically identify the potential threats at the design phase of building such systems, commonly achieved via threat modeling. In this context, a tool to perform systematic analysis of threat modeling for CPS is proposed. A real-world wireless railway temperature monitoring system is used as a case study to validate the proposed approach. The threats identified in the system are subsequently mitigated using National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards.

Performance evaluation of secure industrial control system design: A railway control system case study

Industrial control systems (ICS) are composed of sensors, actuators, control processing units, and communication devices all interconnected to provide monitoring and control capabilities. Due to the integral role of the networking infrastructure, such systems are vulnerable to cyber attacks. Indepth consideration of security and resilience and their effects to system performance are very important. This paper focuses on railway control systems (RCS), an important and potentially vulnerable class of ICS, and presents a simulation integration platform that enables (1) Modeling and simulation including realistic models of cyber and physical components and their interactions, as well as operational scenarios that can be used for evaluations of cybersecurity risks and mitigation measures and (2) Evaluation of performance impact and security assessment of mitigation mechanisms focusing on authentication mechanisms and firewalls. The approach is demonstrated using simulation results from a realistic RCS case study.

Intelligent agents-enabled integrated manufacturing planning and control

Intelligent agents provide a means to integrate various manufacturing software applications. The agents are typically executed in a computer-based collaborative environment, sometimes referred to as a multi-agent platform. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a prototype agent-based platform supporting the integration of manufacturing planning, predictive machining models, and manufacturing control. The agents within this platform have access to a knowledge base, a manufacturing resource database, a numerical control programming system, a mathematical equation solving system, and a computer-aided design system. Intelligence has been implemented within the agents in rules that are used for process planning, service selection, and job execution. The primary purposes for developing such a platform are to support the integration of predictive models, process planning, and shop floor machining activities and to demonstrate an integration framework to enable the use of machining process knowledge with higher-level manufacturing applications.

Controller-driven VRML animation of the next-generation inspection system (NGIS) real-time controller

Virtual objects in a web-based environment can be interfaced to and controlled by external real world controllers. A Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) inspection cell was created that models a real-time inspection system. The tested consists of a Cordax Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM), a vision system for determining the part position and orientation, and an open architecture controller. Because of the open architecture, data such as the probe position and the part position and orientation, can be obtained from the controller to drive a VRML model of the system. The VRML CMM is driven using a socket connection between the collaborators web browser and the real world controller. The current probe position, which is stored in a world model buffer in the controller, is collected by a Java applet running on the web page. The applet updates the VRML model of the CMM via the External Authoring Interface of the VRML plug-in. The part position and orientation is obtained from the vision system and the part is updated in the VRML model to represent the parts real world position and orientation. The remote access web site also contains a client-controlled pan/tilt/zoom camera, which sends video to the client allowing them to monitor a remote inspection with a PC and an Internet connection.

Evaluating the effects of cyber-attacks on cyber physical systems using a hardware-in-the-loop simulation testbed

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) consist of embedded computers with sensing and actuation capability, and are integrated into and tightly coupled with a physical system. Because the physical and cyber components of the system are tightly coupled, cyber-security is important for ensuring the system functions properly and safely. However, the effects of a cyberattack on the whole system may be difficult to determine, analyze, and therefore detect and mitigate. This work presents a model based software development framework integrated with a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testbed for rapidly deploying CPS attack experiments. The framework provides the ability to emulate low level attacks and obtain platform specific performance measurements that are difficult to obtain in a traditional simulation environment. The framework improves the cybersecurity design process which can become more informed and customized to the production environment of a CPS. The developed framework is illustrated with a case study of a railway transportation system.