Cyber-Physical Systems: two case studies in design methodologies

To analyze embedded systems, engineers use tools that can simulate the performance of software components executed on hardware architectures. When the embedded system functionality is strongly correlated to physical quantities, as in the case of Cyber-Physical System (CPS), we need to model physical processes to determine the overall behavior of the system. Unfortunately, embedded systems simulators are not generally suitable to evaluate physical processes, and in the same way physical model simulators hardly capture the functionality of computing systems. In this work, we present a methodology to concurrently explore these aspects using the metroII design framework. The methodology provides guidelines for the implementation of these models in the design environment. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach, we applied the methodology to two case studies. A case study regards a binaural guidance system developed to be included into a smart rollator for older adults. The second case consists of an energy recovery device which gets energy from the heat dissipated by a high performance processor and power a smart sink able to provide cooling or to serve as a wireless sensing node.