ABSTRACT
The efforts to bridge the cyber and physical worlds have progressed along several directions, as described in Chapter 6. Ranging from national and international initiatives such as smart grid and IPSO Interops to the activities of hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers, from web-based control of residential appliances to monitoring individual items in supply chains, the ongoing endeavors span a broad spectrum. While the vast breadth of activities has certainly helped stimulate interest, it may have also splintered the focus of the endeavor. Despite worldwide incubation efforts for nearly a decade no single initiative has emerged as a clear candidate for, or an embryonic version of, the envisioned cyber-physical infrastructure. In fact, let alone an embryonic version of the infrastructure, at present, we do not even have consensus on a blueprint for the cyber-physical system. There is no global agreement on what the infrastructure should be, on its definition or its scope. Instead, characteristic of an endeavor that is yet to reach maturity, there is a profusion of proposals for the definition, scope, and architecture of the fledgling infrastructure.
