Cyber-Physical System (CPS) architecture for real-time water sustainability management in manufacturing industry

Water sustainability is critical to environmental sustainability, social stability and economic development. A major barrier to realizing water sustainability in manufacturing is the onerous nature of data collection and subsequent impact evaluation. In response a cyber-physical-system (CPS) architecture for real-time water footprint (WF) assessment is proposed, in which in-line smart sensing techniques collect data related to water and wastewater, and cloud storage and cloud computing are used for WF calculation and sustainability evaluation. The dynamic capabilities of a CPS can assist industry to decrease water use and water pollution, to reduce costs, and to lower its environmental footprint.