Why in News?

• The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 6, 2018 approved the launching of National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS).
• The mission will be launched by the Department of Science and Technology at an expected cost of Rs 3660 crore for a period of five years.

Objective:

• The mission addresses the ever-increasing technological requirements of the society and takes into account the international trends and roadmaps of leading countries for the next generation technologies.

National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS):

• The NM-ICPS is a comprehensive Mission which would address technology development, application development, human resource development & skill enhancement, entrepreneurship and start-up development in CPS and associated technologies.
• The Mission addresses the ever increasing technological requirements of the society, and takes into account the international trends and road maps of leading countries for the next generation technologies.
• It would be a Pan India Mission and covers entire gamut of India that includes Central Ministries, State Governments, Industry and Academia.
• The Mission will feed the Central Ministries/ Departments and State Govts and also the Industry to effectively use the CPS technologies in their projects and schemes for the benefit of the society.
• The mission implementation would develop and bring:
  o Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) and associated technologies within reach in the country,
  o Adoption of CPS technologies to address India specific National / Regional issues,
  o Produce Next Generation skilled manpower in CPS,
  o Catalyse Translational Research,
  o Accelerate entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem development in CPS etc.

Significance:

• CPS is an integrated system of upcoming technology, which in turn is being taken up on priority basis by countries in the race for development.
• CPS will indeed bring a paradigm shift in entire skill sets requirement.
• The proposed Mission would act as an engine of growth that would benefit national initiatives in health, education, energy, environment, agriculture, strategic cum security, and industrial sectors, Industry 4.0, SMART Cities, SDGs etc.
• The job opportunities will be enhanced through the Mission by imparting advanced skills and generating skilled manpower as per the requirement of the industry/ society.
• As Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Start-up Ecosystem is an integral part of the proposed NM-ICPS, the start-ups will also create a number of technology driven job opportunities in CPS and allied areas.

Cyber Physical System:

• CPSs are systems that link the physical world (e.g., through sensors or actuators) with the virtual world of information processing.
• They are composed from diverse constituent parts that collaborate together to create some global behaviour. These constituents will include software systems, communications technology, and sensors/actuators that interact with the real world, often including embedded technologies.
• In short these types of systems blend human and compute power, and integrating mechanical systems with human physical interaction giving both a form of “super powers.