Fundamentals of a Mereo-Operandi Theory to Support Transdisciplinary Modeling and Co-Design of Cyber-Physical Systems

Abstract

The main statement of this paper is that synergetic modeling and co-design of the hardware, software and cyberware parts of complex cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are yet not solved, even from the perspective of an underpinning transdisciplinary theory. CPSs contain functionally tightly connected analog and digital hardware, control, and application software, and knowledge, data, and media contents as cyberware. The lack of a unified theoretical framework and an all-inclusive system conceptualization methodology can be traced back to professional, methodological and cultural differences between the abovementioned domains of development. The objective of our research is to make a step towards a theoretical framework that can support transdisciplinary modeling of CPSs. Architectural and operational modeling have been identified as two principal and interrelated dimensions of system modeling, and a mereo-operandi theory (MOT) has been identified as target. Mereotopology has been considered as the basis of architectural modeling. Operational modeling has been based on parameterized representation of the underlying physical principles, the morphological characteristics, the operation elements, and the overall operation flows. A demonstrative case study is presented to evidence the practical feasibility and utility of the proposed MOT. Our follow up research will focus on using this as a conceptual framework and computational basis for specification of system manifestation features and on a computational implementation to support embedded customization.