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The next-generation of wireless networks will enable many machine learning (ML) tools and applications to efficiently analyze various types of data collected by edge devices for inference, autonomy, and decision making purposes. However, due to resource constraints, delay limitations, and privacy challenges, edge devices cannot offload their entire collected datasets to a cloud server for centrally training their ML models or inference purposes. To overcome these challenges, distributed learning and inference techniques have been proposed as a means to enable edge devices to collaboratively train ML models without raw data exchanges, thus reducing the communication overhead and latency as well as improving data privacy. However, deploying distributed learning over wireless networks faces several challenges including the uncertain wireless environment (e.g., dynamic channel and interference), limited wireless resources (e.g., transmit power and radio spectrum), and hardware resources (e.g., computational power). This paper provides a comprehensive study of how distributed learning can be efficiently and effectively deployed over wireless edge networks. We present a detailed overview of several emerging distributed learning paradigms, including federated learning, federated distillation, distributed inference, and multi-agent reinforcement learning. For each learning framework, we first introduce the motivation for deploying it over wireless networks. Then, we present a detailed literature review on the use of communication techniques for its efficient deployment. We then introduce an illustrative example to show how to optimize wireless networks to improve its performance. Finally, we introduce future research opportunities. In a nutshell, this paper provides a holistic set of guidelines on how to deploy a broad range of distributed learning frameworks over real-world wireless communication networks.

Autonomous mobile robots emerged as an important kind of transportation system in warehouses and factories. In this work, we present the use of MECA cognitive architecture in the development of an artificial mind for an autonomous robot responsible for multiple tasks, including transportation of packages along a factory floor, environment exploration, warehouse inventory, its internal energy management, self-monitoring and dealing with human operators and other robots. The present text provides a detailed specification for the architecture and its software implementation. Future work will present the simulation results under different configurations, together with a detailed analysis of the architecture performance and its generalization for autonomous robot control.

Realization of industry-scale, goal-driven, autonomous systems with AI planning technology faces several challenges: flexibly specifying planning goal states in varying situations, synthesizing plans in large state spaces, re-planning in dynamic situations, and facilitating humans to supervise, give feedback and intervene. In this paper, we present Intent-driven Strategic Tactical Planning (ISTP) to address these challenges. We demonstrate its efficacy through its application for radio base station inspection across several locations using drones. The inspection task involves capturing images, thermal images or signal measurements - called knowledge-objects - of various components of the base stations for downstream processing. In the ISTP approach, an operator indicates her goals by flying the drone to different components of interest. These goals are generalized to capture the intent of the operator, which are then instantiated in new situations to generate goals dynamically. Towards planning and re-planning in large state spaces to achieve these goals efficiently, we extend the Strategic-Tactical Planning paradigm. All the components of ISTP are integrated in an intuitive UI and demonstrated through a real life use-case built on the UNITY simulator platform.

Analyzing massive amounts of data using complex machine learning models requires significant computational resources. The conventional approach to such problems involves centralizing training data and inference processes in the cloud, i.e., in data centers. However, with the proliferation of mobile devices and increasing application of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) paradigm, very large amounts of data are collected at the edges of wireless networks, and due to privacy constraints and limited communication resources, it is undesirable or impractical to upload this data from mobile devices to the cloud for centralized learning. This problem can be solved by distributed learning at the network edge, by which edge devices collaboratively train a shared learning model using real-time mobile data. The avoidance of raw-data uploading not only helps to preserve privacy but may also alleviate network-traffic congestion and minimize latency. With that said, distributed training still requires a substantial amount of information exchange between devices and edge servers over wireless links. In the process, wireless impairments such as noise, interference, and imperfect knowledge of channel states can significantly slow down distributed learning (e.g., convergence speed) and degrades its performance (e.g., learning accuracy). This makes it crucial to optimize wireless network performance so as to support the efficient deployment of distributed learning algorithms. On the other hand, distributed learning algorithms provide a powerful tool-set for solving complex problems in wireless communication and networking. One important framework, called federated learning (FL), enables users to collaboratively learn a shared model while helping to preserve local data privacy. The application of FL can endow edge devices with capabilities of user behavior prediction, user identification, and wireless environment analysis. As another example, distributed reinforcement learning is capable of leveraging distributed computation power and data to solve complex optimization and control problems that arise in various use cases, such as network control, user clustering, resource management, and interference alignment. To cover this paradigm of distributed learning over wireless networks, this two-part Special Issue features papers dealing with two main research challenges: a) optimization of wireless network performance for efficient implementation of distributed learning in wireless networks, and b) distributed learning for solving communication problems and optimizing network performance.

Cyber Physical Systems (CPSs) are systems that are developed by seamlessly integrating computational algorithms and physical components, and they are a result of the technological advancement in the embedded systems and distributed systems domains, as well as the availability of sophisticated networking technology. Many industrial CPSs are subject to timing predictability, security and functional safety requirements, due to which the developers of these systems are required to verify these requirements during the their development. This position paper starts by exploring the state of the art with respect to developing timing predictable and secure embedded systems. Thereafter, the paper extends the discussion to time-critical and secure CPSs and highlights the key issues that are faced when verifying the timing predictability requirements during the development of these systems. In this context, the paper takes the position to advocate paramount importance of security as a prerequisite for timing predictability, as well as both security and timing predictability as prerequisites for functional safety. Moreover, the paper identifies the gaps in the existing frameworks and techniques for the development of time- and safety-critical CPSs and describes our viewpoint on ensuring timing predictability and security in these systems. Finally, the paper emphasises the opportunities that artificial intelligence can provide in the development of these systems.

Automated warehouses, as a form of cyber-physical systems (CPSs), require several components to work collaboratively to address the common business objectives of complex logistics systems. During the collaborative operations, a number of key performance indicators (KPI) can be monitored to understand the proficiency of the warehouse and control the operations and decisions. It is possible to drive and monitor these KPIs by looking at both the state of the warehouse components and the operations carried out by them. Therefore, it is necessary to represent this knowledge in an explicit and formally-specified data model and provide automated methods to derive the KPIs from the representation. In this paper, we implement a minimalistic data model for a subset of warehouse resources using linked data in order to monitor a few KPIs, namely sustainability, safety and performance. The applicability of the approach and the data model is illustrated through a use case. We demonstrate that it is possible to develop minimalistic data models through Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) resource shapes which enables compatibility with the declarative and procedural knowledge of automated warehouse agents specified in Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL). QC 20180530 SCOTT

Autonomous mobile robots emerged as an important kind of transportation system in warehouses and factories. In this work, we present the use of MECA cognitive architecture in the development of an artificial mind for an autonomous robot responsible for multiple tasks. It is a work in progress, and we still have only preliminary results. Future work will present a more detailed account of the architecture.

Recent advancement in the development of embedded systems and in the integration of operational and industrial technologies has accelerated the progress of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) development. Cooperation of such systems allows to achieve new functionalities. However, often these systems are time-critical; hence, the developers of these systems are required to provide guarantees of the systems’ properties, such as predictability and security. In this paper, we start by glancing through the research devoted to developing time predictable and secure embedded systems. Thereon, we extend the discussion to time-critical and secure CPSs and point out the challenges related to ensuring predictability during their development. In this context, we emphasize the importance of security as a prerequisite for time predictability. Moreover, we identify the gaps in the state of the art and describe our view on ensuring predictability in time-critical and secure CPSs.

This paper summarizes the work is done, which is carried out to develop and evaluate a dashboard design that visualizes a stream of data from different entities involved in autonomous warehouses, as a subset of cyber-physical systems. The dashboard is designed and developed through User- Centered Design (UCD) methodologies based on two iterations of feedback sessions with the stakeholders. During these sessions, semi-structured expert opinion interviews are conducted. The paper discusses the different stages involved in building the proposed dashboard design, the design decisions, the technical aspects of the libraries used, and the results of the feedback sessions towards the end of the project. It also presents the implemented dashboard as proof of development efforts and explains its different functionalities. The study concludes by evaluating the dashboard through the semi-structured interviews with the respective stakeholders and suggests features for further development. QC 20190304 SCOTT

With the continuous progress of radio technology it is becoming evident that the cellular network will support advanced cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) services, which require connectivity that can provide low latency, high data throughput, high reliability and broad coverage. Before these services are fully deployed in reality, and due to ethical and safety reasons, we turn to simulation to study the support of the cellular network for such services. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a realistic simulation framework for urban C-V2X usecases. The framework consists of an urban mobility simulator, which can accurately model urban traffic, and a network simulator capable for simulating at least the LTE radio equipment and the network protocol stacks in the urban area where the C-V2X service will be offered. We validate the simulation framework by performing a feasibility assessment of a vehicle teleoperation usecase in one urban area of the city of Stockholm.

Scheduling is needed in a multitude of smart city domains, such as public transportation, logistics, organization of events and parts delivery in assembly lines. In this paper, we present the architecture and implementation of PickUp Planner, a service that enables scheduling and dynamic routing of connected vehicles for picking up number of users distributed in the city. The service dynamically reconfigures the routes of the vehicles based on real-time traffic condition information, which in turn is gathered from the road infrastructure and other connected vehicles registered to the service. The crux of the service is the usage of a novel vehicle routing and scheduling algorithm that combines clustering algorithms and Answer Set Programming. Our evaluation shows that the algorithm decreases the total distance traveled by the vehicles, and therefore reduces fuel consumption and emissions from the vehicles. We also conclude that Answer Set Programming solvers may not be the best choice for scenarios in which there is a high number of users to be served frequently.

Future cellular networks (5G) will be used for a diversity of use cases. Transportation is one domain where cellular networks can play a significant role not only in connecting autonomous vehicles to other vehicles, infrastructures, and people, but also in realizing vehicle teleoperation i.e., vehicle driven by an operator from a distance. In this paper, we assess the feasibility of using a cellular network to realise vehicle teleoperation. We identify the network requirements for a teleoperated vehicle use case in an urban environment using a test setup of an LTE network and simulations. Testbed measurements reveal that teleoperation use cases can be supported even with less than excellent signal strength. Through simulation we show that the testbed can scale to cover greater distances and support teleoperation use cases even with background mobile broadband traffic.

In this paper, we suggest a service-oriented architecture for planning and execution (SOA-PE) in large scale cyber-physical systems (CPS). SOA-PE provides a clean separation between domain modeling, planning, execution, monitoring and actuation services. This approach helps realize the system-of-systems paradigm allowing the decomposition of system goals into smaller subgoals, thus enhancing the scalability of the proposed solution. In addition to supporting large scale, autonomous systems, the service-oriented approach provides several benefits such as reusability, independent development and deployment, platform independence, transparency and flexibility, to the core services of Planning and Execution in these systems. The architecture targets decentralized, multi-agent systems for solutions like smart transportation and logistics and can scale to larger IoT use cases like smart cities. We illustrate the functionalities of the architecture through a prototype implementation and a case study from the logistics domain.

5G networks will be a key enabler for the Internet of Things by providing a platform to connect a massive number of devices with heterogeneous sets of network quality requirements. In this environment, 5G network operators will have to solve the complex challenge of managing network services for diverse customer sectors (such as automotive, health or energy) with different requirements throughout their lifecycle.In this paper, we present current state of our work on automating part of the network service lifecycle management using knowledge management- and decision support techniques. We also present our ongoing implementation steps for such management function in 5G networks. QC 20210210.QC 20210723