WASHINGTON - The U.S. Navy is funding research into cyber-physical systems intended to improve the resilience of Navy infrastructure through a $10.2 million contract modification awarded to Integer Technologies LLC of Columbia, S.C.
The research is being conducted through a partnership between Integer Technologies and Louisiana State University (LSU). The Navy Embedded Systems effort is developing a cyber-physical resilience framework that addresses vulnerabilities created by interactions among computing, communications, control systems, and physical infrastructure.
The contract announcement calls for a phased approach that includes assessing emerging cyber-physical vulnerabilities, advanced simulation models, real-time dashboards, and techniques for hardening systems at the edge. The proposal also calls for eventual deployment of defensive technologies across naval vessels and shore facilities.
Cyber-physical resilience
Integer describes cyber-physical resilience as an approach to protecting embedded systems and other critical systems when cyberattacks can affect physical operations. The company's research uses simulation, attack emulation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to identify vulnerabilities and help systems maintain operational capability during cyberattacks.
Cyber-physical systems present a different engineering problem from conventional information technology networks because a compromise can extend beyond data or network availability and affect the behavior of a physical system. For embedded systems, that can make cybersecurity a systems-engineering issue involving processors, sensors, control functions, communications, and the equipment those systems monitor or control.
Simulation and attack emulation can examine these interactions before testing defensive technologies against operational systems. Integer's cyber-physical-resilience research specifically incorporates simulations and attack emulation to examine how systems respond to cyberattacks.
Eye on autonomy
The LSU-Integer relationship also focuses on maritime autonomous systems. In 2024, the two organizations announced a $9.8 million ONR research effort focused on improving the intelligence, autonomy, and decision-making of distributed networks of maritime autonomous systems. That program included digital engineering and AI/ML approaches and was intended to support the Navy's transition toward uncrewed and autonomous vessels.
The cyber-physical research extends that broader technical focus into the resilience of connected systems. As computing and autonomous functions become increasingly distributed across platforms and infrastructure, engineers must account not only for whether individual components can withstand cyberattack, but also for how an attack could affect the larger system.
Integer's cyber-physical-resilience portfolio includes work involving unmanned systems, robotic systems, and industrial controls, while the company's LSU research presence is focused on maritime technology and cyber resilience.
The research is scheduled to continue through March 2030, giving Integer Technologies and LSU several years to develop and evaluate approaches for improving the cyber resilience of Navy cyber-physical systems.
Work will be performed in Baton Rouge, La., and is expected to be completed in March 2030. The Office of Naval Research in Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.
