IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2016 - 63

Viewpoint

(continued from page 64)

x The development of the Internet

and the smart grid have demonstrated the necessity of data and
interoperability standards. The
National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) in the United
States and an industry group, the
Industrial Internet Consortium
(IIC), have been spearheading
efforts to describe a reference
architecture and common vocabulary for cyberphysical systems.
x Industrial-strength networking is
needed to support intelligent systems. The public Internet was not
originally designed with the use
cases posed by intelligent systems
in mind. Security, reliability, availability, and latency requirements
for mission-critical intelligent infrastructure systems are different
from the requirements for general
business or consumer applications.
Standardization efforts on IoT and
machine-to-machine communication are addressing this issue in
multiple forums.
x Cybersecurity must be improved. As
society becomes more dependent
on networked intelligent systems,
the opportunity to create disruptions, either as a result of malicious intent or machine or human
error, increases. Systems must be
engineered, or, if necessary, reengineered, to make them less vulnerable to attack and unintentional

Newsfeed

errors. NIST's efforts on guidelines
for smart grid cybersecurity have
expanded to address cybersecurity
for cyberphysical systems.
x Human factors engineering of intelligent systems must incorporate software and algorithms that optimize
collaboration between humans and
robots and other machines. Intelligent systems ultimately serve the
needs of human users and also,
usually, have human operators in
the loop. A significant body of
knowledge and technology has
been developed and must be
applied to optimize the overall performance of such systems by leveraging the different capabilities and
strengths of machines and people.
x Test beds are needed to "prove-in"
and validate the performance of
large-scale intelligent systems to
ensure that they will function as
intended in the real world. The IIC
is one example of an industry-led
initiative to create test beds.

Summary
The world is rapidly moving toward a
future in which sensing, computing,
communications, software, data,
dynamic control, and optimization technologies are ubiquitously deployed in
the systems supporting society. Intelligent systems promise a new era of economic gains and improved quality of life.
However, to realize these benefits,

intelligent systems must perform nearly
flawlessly-there is no backup if they go
down. Perfecting the enabling technologies underpinning intelligent systems is
presenting an exciting challenge for the
21st-century engineering community.

For Further Reading
P. C. Evans and M. Annunziata. (2012,
Nov. 26). Industrial Internet: Pushing
the Boundaries of Minds and Machines,
General Electric Co. Publication.
[Online]. Available: http://www.ge.com/
docs/chapters/Industrial_Internet.pdf
Industrial Internet Consortium.
(2015, June). The Industrial Internet Reference Architecture Technical Document. [Online]. Available: http://www.
iiconsortium.org/IIRA.htm
Cyberphysical Systems Public Working Group, U.S. Department of Commerce
National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2015, Sept.). Draft Framework for
Cyberphysical Systems Release 0.8.
[Online]. Available: http://www.cpspwg.
org/Portals/3/docs/CPS%20PWG%20
Draft%20Framework%20for%20Cyberphysical%20Systems%20Release%20
0.8%20September%202015.pdf

Biography
George Arnold (garnold@ieee.org) is CEO
of Tercio Solutions, an industrial automation software company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was previously director of the Smart Grid and
Cyberphysical Systems Program at the
National Institute of Standards and
Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland.

(continued from page 62)

invited to the event. The presentations and the discussions have
strongly confirmed the increasing
popularity of microgrids, as demonstrated by the explosive funded
research and demonstration activities
around the world. A number of technical solutions have been presented,
demonstrated, and actually implemented. It has been concluded that

microgrids are already seen as a
workable solution for remote electrification and noninterconnected island
installations. Increasing concerns
about resilience and reliability have
also favored widespread microgrid
developments and demonstrations.
Ongoing technical as well as research
efforts in economics and social issues
are expected to further prove the

added value of microgrids as an efficient solution for local energy balancing, providing critical support to the
bulk power system operation.
Looking ahead, this is America's
year again, and the 12th Symposium
on Microgrids will be held at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada, on 20-21
October 2016.

IEEE Electrific ation Magazine / MARCH 2 0 1 6

http://www.ge.com/ http://www http://www.iiconsortium.org/IIRA.htm http://www.cpspwg

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2016