The Design of Human-in-the-Loop Cyber-Physical Systems for Monitoring the Ecosystem of Historic Villages

Abstract

What are the main findings? A model and the related methodology for designing human-in-the-loop cyber–physical systems to protect historic villages. A definition of patterns, based on the situational awareness approach, for the distribution of human and automated intelligence in an edge-cloud architecture. What are the implications of the main findings? The design models and the related methodology can be used as guidelines for the design of human-in-the-loop cyber–physical systems based on situational awareness, smart objects, and edge-cloud networks. This paper promotes the implementation of decision-making processes finalized to reduce risks, improve safety procedures, and provide a knowledge base to protect the cultural heritage of historic villages. Highlights: Today, historic villages represent a widespread and relevant reality of the Italian administrative structure. To preserve their value for future generations, smart city applications can contribute to implement effective monitoring and decision-making processes devoted to safeguarding their fragile ecosystem. Starting from a situational awareness model, this study proposes a method for designing human-in-the-loop cyber-physical systems that allow the design of monitoring and decision-making applications for historic villages. Both the model and the design method can be used as a reference for the realization of human-in-the-loop cyber-physical systems that consist of human beings, smart objects, edge devices, and cloud components in edge-cloud architectures. The output of the research, consisting of the graphical models for the definition of monitoring architectures and the method for the design of human-in-the-loop cyber-physical systems, was validated in the context of the village of Sant’Agata dei Goti through the implementation of a human-in-the-loop cyber-physical system for monitoring sites aiming at their management, conservation, protection, and fruition.