Cyber-Physical Systems | 24 581

Opportunity Information: Apply for 24 581

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) grant opportunity supports fundamental research and education aimed at advancing engineered systems that tightly integrate computation (the "cyber" side) with physical processes and components (the "physical" side). The program is centered on the idea that modern critical systems increasingly rely on real-time sensing, computation, communication, and control to operate safely and effectively in the real world. NSF is looking for work that moves CPS beyond incremental improvements by developing new principles, methods, and technologies that increase capability, adaptability, scalability, resiliency, safety, security, and overall usability. Because CPS increasingly shape daily life, the program emphasizes research with broad potential to influence many sectors, not just a single narrowly defined application.

The scope of application areas is intentionally wide and includes agriculture, aeronautics, building design, civil infrastructure, energy, environmental quality, healthcare and personalized medicine, manufacturing, and transportation. A major theme is that CPS are becoming data-rich and are enabling higher levels of automation and autonomy, which in turn raises new technical and societal questions. NSF explicitly highlights that traditional CPS approaches are being reshaped by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), especially where learning must happen under real-time constraints and where decisions affect physical safety and reliability. The integration of AI with CPS, particularly for real-time operation, is framed as a key growth area with major societal implications and a strong need for fresh, foundational research.

From a research content standpoint, the program supports core CPS research areas such as control; data analytics; machine learning (including real-time learning for control); autonomy; system design; Internet of Things (IoT); human-in-the-loop or human-on-the-loop approaches; networking; privacy; real-time systems; safety; security; and verification. The program is not simply inviting domain-specific demonstrations. Instead, it stresses cross-cutting scientific and engineering principles that apply across many CPS domains, encouraging investigators to abstract away from one specific application to reveal generalizable ideas about how cyber and physical elements can be integrated. NSF also supports the development of methods, tools, and reusable hardware and software components grounded in these principles, along with validation through prototypes, experimental platforms, and testbeds. Beyond the technical work, the opportunity aims to strengthen the CPS research community, promote education and outreach, and speed the translation of research results into real-world practice.

Proposal preparation has several required elements in the Project Description. First, proposals must include a Research Description explaining the technical rationale and approach, the key challenges motivating the work, and the way the project truly integrates cyber and physical components. This section must also explain how outcomes will translate to other application domains, reinforcing the program goal of generalizable CPS contributions. Within the Research Description, investigators must include a clearly labeled subsection titled "CPS Research Focus" that explains the CPS attributes of the challenge problem and identifies the core CPS research areas where the project’s novel, foundational contributions will be made. NSF notes that this should be a focused, substantive discussion rather than a simple checklist of topics. Proposals must also include an Evaluation/Experimentation Plan describing how concepts will be validated and what metrics will define success, as well as a Project Management and Collaboration Plan describing why the team is well positioned to execute the work and how collaboration will be managed effectively.

The CPS program is coordinated with multiple federal partners, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Highway Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). This multi-agency alignment signals interest in CPS advances that can strengthen national needs such as resilient infrastructure, transportation safety and efficiency, secure and trustworthy systems, and innovations relevant to agriculture and related sectors.

NSF supports three project classes under this opportunity, each with different scope, budget, and duration expectations. Small projects can request up to $600,000 total for up to 3 years and are positioned for emerging, innovative ideas with high potential impact; they can be submitted at any time during the annual submission window. Medium projects request $600,001 to $1,200,000 total for up to 3 years and are intended for multidisciplinary efforts that require integrated perspectives across fields; these can also be submitted at any time during the annual window. Frontier projects are the largest category and must tackle critical CPS challenges that cannot realistically be addressed by a collection of smaller projects, while also pushing CPS capabilities well beyond today’s systems. Frontier proposals can request $1,200,001 to $7,000,000 total for 4 to 5 years, and they have a specific deadline rather than anytime submission.

Eligibility is limited to U.S.-based institutions of higher education (including two- and four-year institutions such as community colleges) and non-profit, non-academic organizations such as independent museums, observatories, research labs, and professional societies, provided they are located in the United States and directly associated with education or research activities. If a proposal includes funding for an international branch campus of a U.S. institution (including via subawards or consultants), the submission must clearly explain the benefits of performing work at the international campus and justify why those activities cannot be performed at the U.S. campus.

Key administrative details from the source data include: the funding opportunity title is Cyber-Physical Systems, the agency is NSF, the instrument is a grant, the opportunity number is 24-581, the award ceiling is $7,000,000, and NSF anticipates making about 31 awards. The listed original closing date is 2024-09-03 (noting that small and medium projects are described as having an anytime submission window, while frontier projects follow a set deadline). The opportunity is categorized under Science and Technology and other Research and Development and is associated with CFDA numbers 10.310, 20.200, 47.041, 47.070, and 97.108.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cyber-Physical Systems" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.310, 20.200, 47.041, 47.070, 97.108.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-06-05.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-09-03. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $7,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 31 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for 24 581

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