Cyberphysical Sequencing for Distributed Asset Management with Broad Traceability
This addresses trust and transparency issues for stakeholders in distributed asset management, though it appears incremental by building on existing technologies like RFID and Digital Twins.
The paper tackles the problem of opaque supply chains in cyber-physical systems by proposing cyberphysical sequencing as a low-cost, lightweight method to link physical assets to unique digital identifiers for traceability, offering benefits similar to Digital Twins with fewer resources.
Cyber-Physical systems (CPS) have complex lifecycles involving multiple stakeholders, and the transparency of both hardware and software components' supply chain is opaque at best. This raises concerns for stakeholders who may not trust that what they receive is what was requested. There is an opportunity to build a cyberphysical titling process offering universal traceability and the ability to differentiate systems based on provenance. Today, RFID tags and barcodes address some of these needs, though they are easily manipulated due to non-linkage with an object or system's intrinsic characteristics. We propose cyberphysical sequencing as a low-cost, light-weight and pervasive means of adding track-and-trace capabilities to any asset that ties a system's physical identity to a unique and invariant digital identifier. CPS sequencing offers benefits similar Digital Twins' for identifying and managing the provenance and identity of an asset throughout its life with far fewer computational and other resources.