How can we make Human Machine Systems secure?

How can we ensure the safety and availability of highly networked human-cyber physical systems which bring together humans, ICT systems, and physical systems that are controlled by humans or machines and networked with each other to create one overall system? An overall system that is responsible for higher functions that are essential for the state and business, such as energy supply; air traffic surveillance and control; traffic flow control; maritime safety, production chains; or systems for postoperative patient monitoring? The Safety Relevant Cyber Physical Systems competence cluster is examining this highly relevant central issue.

Safety-critical systems whose possible failure would endanger human lives are increasingly being used in the automobile industry; maritime technology; aerospace sector; automation technology; energy supply; and healthcare. The reliable avoidance of serious economic consequences as a result of defective computer-based systems is also a key issue.

The development of (partially) autonomous systems is highly dependent on safety being a given. The already high demands on such systems increase not only due to the partial or complete transfer of control, for example to an autopilot, but increasingly also due to the inclusion of self-learning systems. These systems are able to use information gained from their experiences to make future decisions.  The element of uncertainty in automatically made decisions presents a further major challenge for safety-relevant applications and systems.

The scientific work being carried out by this competence cluster is thus based on many years of basic research on models, requirements, analyses, and synthesis – which initially took place without the involvement of humans in a special research area. Projects on "Integrated Modeling for Safe Transportation" and "Critical Systems Engineering for Socio-Technical Systems", funded by the German Ministry of Science and Culture, expanded the remit of this work to include humans, examining their infl uence on safety as active participants and decision-makers in such systems.

Over and above this, the OFFIS Safety Relevant Cyber Physical Systems competence cluster can draw on many years of industrial experience in the development of safety-relevant systems that have been developed within the scope of close industrial cooperation with partners from the aerospace and automotive industries as well as the maritime sector. A range of cooperation projects that take basic research as their starting point are examining processes and methods for the development of safety-relevant systems. A particular focus is the issue of how threats to safety in sub-systems or -components can impact the overall system’s safety.