Agent-based Software Architecture for Distributed Measurement Systems and Cyber-Physical Systems Design

This paper reports about a research project aimed to the development of an agent-based software architecture for a Distributed Measurement System (DMS) as a Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) part. Agents are used because they naturally support the modeling of the interaction between the measurement nodes and provide the concept of action, useful to implement measurement procedures. A support to model continuity is novel in the approach, that is, the possibility of using the same model for property analysis using simulation, down to final implementation and real-time execution. A case study is presented concerning DMS devoted to real-time monitoring and control of an electric power system.