WIDN 2015 - Workshop on Inter-Dependent Networks

Modern networked systems, in particular, networked physical infrastructures, are inter-dependent in such a way that changing in one network may have a profound impact on other systems. One notable example of such interdependent networked system is the smart-grid, of which the power stations depend on communication networks for control and management and vice versa, the communication networks depend on the power systems for their electricity supports. Furthermore, the rapid adoption and pervasiveness of computing, and emergence of smart cyber-physical systems and Internet of Things (IoT) have created new capabilities for autonomy, interoperability, interaction and cooperation between many critical computing, communication and control networks (“cyber systems”) and physical infrastructures and “smart” environments (“physical systems”). Unfortunately, the connections with cyberspace also open to new surfaces of vulnerabilities and new threat vectors. The challenge is to understand the interdependencies of these systems and how the dynamics are cascaded between them so as to design and develop “smarter” and more resilient inter-dependent networked (cyber-physical) systems.
The objective of this workshop is to advance and promote theoretical foundations for understanding the behaviors of and inter-dependencies in modern networked systems -- especially, in critical (networked) physical infrastructure systems -- and emerging cyber-physical systems. It also seeks to explore new system architectures and innovative mechanisms for the design and development of robust and resilient interdependent networked systems. This workshop will foster an interdisciplinary research community that discovers new knowledge for the design and operation of national critical networked infrastructures as processes and services.
List of Topics
The Workshop on Inter-Dependent Networks (WIDN) welcomes contributions that are mainly involved, but not limited to the following (non-exhaustive) list of topics, relevant to its broader scope:
Understand and design of interdependent critical infrastructures
Vulnerability and resilience of interdependent networks
Cascading failures in interdependent networks
Multiplex and multi-layered networks
Network representations
Complexity and approximation of interdependent networks optimization and control techniques
Theoretical frameworks and multidisciplinary computational models of interdependent networks
Analytical prediction of complex behaviors
Cyber-physical systems