Push- and Pull-based Effective Communication in Cyber-Physical Systems
Pietro Talli Federico Mason Federico Chiariotti Andrea Zanella
In Cyber Physical Systems (CPSs), two groups of actors interact toward the
maximization of system performance: the sensors, observing and disseminating
the system state, and the actuators, performing physical decisions based on the
received information. While it is generally assumed that sensors periodically
transmit updates, returning the feedback signal only when necessary, and
consequently adapting the physical decisions to the communication policy, can
significantly improve the efficiency of the system. In particular, the choice
between push-based communication, in which updates are initiated autonomously
by the sensors, and pull-based communication, in which they are requested by
the actuators, is a key design step. In this work, we propose an analytical
model for optimizing push- and pull-based communication in CPSs, observing that
the policy optimality coincides with Value of Information (VoI) maximization.
Our results also highlight that, despite providing a better optimal solution,
implementable push-based communication strategies may underperform even in
relatively simple scenarios.