Trajcevski Awarded NSF Grant from Cyber-Physical Systems

His project is titled, "CPS: Synergy: Collaborative Research: Mapping & Querying Underground Infrastructure Systems."

Prof. Goce Trajcevski

Goce Trajcevski (PI, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University), in collaboration with Isabel Cruz (lead PI, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)), Sybil Derrible, Dept. of Civil and Material Engineering (co-PI, UIC), Michael Siciliano (co-PI, Dept. of Public Administration, UIC), and Roberto Tamassia (PI, Dept. of Computer Science, Brown University), have received an $800K grant from the highly competitive NSF Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) program for the three-year interdisciplinary project "CPS: Synergy: Collaborative Research: Mapping and Querying Underground Infrastructure Systems."  The investigators will develop models and methods to generate, analyze, and share data on underground infrastructure systems, such as water, gas, electricity, and sewer networks. Also, they will leverage partnerships with the cities of Chicago and Evanston, Illinois, to make the approach and findings relevant to their stakeholders.

Project Abstract: One of the challenges toward achieving the vision of smart cities is improving the state of the underground infrastructure. For example, large US cities have thousands of miles of aging water mains, resulting in hundreds of breaks every year, and a large percentage of water consumption that is unaccounted for. The goal of this project is to develop models and methods to generate, analyze, and share data on underground infrastructure systems, such as water, gas, electricity, and sewer networks. The interdisciplinary team of investigators from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Brown University, and Northwestern University will leverage partnerships with the cities of Chicago and Evanston, Illinois, to make the approach and findings relevant to their stakeholders. The results of the project will ultimately help municipalities maintain and renovate civil infrastructure in a more effective manner.

Cities are cyber-physical systems on a grand scale, and developing a precise knowledge of their infrastructure is critical to building a foundation for the future smart city. This proposal takes an information centric approach based on the complex interaction among thematic data layers to developing, visualizing, querying, analyzing, and providing access to a comprehensive representation of the urban underground infrastructure starting from incomplete and imprecise data. Specifically, the project has the following main technical components: (1) Generation of accurate GIS-based representations of underground infrastructure systems from paper maps, CAD drawings, and other legacy data sources; (2) Visualization of multi-layer networks combining schematic overview diagrams with detailed geometric representations; (3) Query processing algorithms for integrating spatial, temporal, and network data about underground infrastructure systems; (4) Data analytics spanning heterogeneous geospatial data sources and incorporating uncertainty and constraints; (5) Selective access to stakeholders on a need-to-know basis and facilitating data sharing; and (6) Evaluation in collaboration with the cities of Chicago and Evanston.

About CPS: Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are engineered systems that are built from, and depend upon, the seamless integration of computational algorithms and physical components. Advances in CPS will enable capability, adaptability, scalability, resiliency, safety, security, and usability that will far exceed the simple embedded systems of today. CPS technology will transform the way people interact with engineered systems -- just as the Internet has transformed the way people interact with information. New smart CPS will drive innovation and competition in sectors such as agriculture, energy, transportation, building design and automation, healthcare, and manufacturing.

In response to the 2016 CPS announcement, 700 proposals for 305 synergy projects (considering collaborative projects) were submitted. The proposals were evaluated taking into account both the standard NSF criteria of intellectual merit and broader impacts and the specific CPS emphasis on holistic, integrative approaches to cyber-physical systems that are applicable to more than one application domain and the extent to which they address the science, technology, and engineering of cyber-physical systems. It is expected that approximately 9% of the 2016 synergy project proposals will be recommended for an award.

McCormick News Article