Aligning Stakeholders Viewpoints in Realizing Trustworthy CPS: Architectural Framework as a Boundary Object

Abstract

This study provides an evaluation of an architecture framework intended to support stakeholders in realizing trustworthy cyber-physical systems (CPS), referred to as the T-Framework. The framework explicitly addresses CPS complexity, including the fact that multiple trustworthiness aspects will need to be considered for contemporary CPS, from classical dependability aspects to ethical concerns involving artificial intelligence. In addition, this study also investigates the problems that are repeatedly encountered by the stakeholders involved in realizing trustworthy CPS. To achieve the goals of the study, the boundary object and knowledge boundary concepts from social sciences were used. These concepts are useful tools to examine how various involved stakeholders can cooperate on a project through the utilization of objects, even though they have different perspectives and conflicting interests. Focus groups were used as the methodological approach to gather feedback from various experts in CPS from industry and academia. Findings show that stakeholders repeatedly encounter problems when making trade-offs between trustworthiness attributes and system aspects, dealing with prioritization, and making final decisions. The findings further show that the T-Framework can potentially guide stakeholders in addressing these problems as a boundary object. Furthermore, based on the feedback from the participants, several aspects for improvements or additional consideration in the T-Framework were identified, including clarifications regarding the framework workflow and terminology.