Cyber-Physical Systems

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Description

This opportunity supports research and education projects in cyber-physical systems (CPS)—engineered systems that tightly integrate computation, networking, and physical processes. The program aims to advance the science, engineering, and technology needed to design, build, and validate CPS that are capable, adaptable, scalable, resilient, safe, secure, and usable. CPS research is highly interdisciplinary and impacts a wide range of application domains, including agriculture, transportation, energy, healthcare, civil infrastructure, manufacturing, and more.

The program encourages projects that:

• Develop new fundamental principles and methods for CPS.
• Integrate advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, control, IoT, networking, security, privacy, and real-time systems.
• Address cross-cutting challenges and demonstrate translational potential across domains.
• Foster education, outreach, and broadening participation in CPS.

Proposals must include a research description (with a focused "CPS Research Focus" subsection), an evaluation/experimentation plan, and a project management and collaboration plan.

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Due Dates

• Small & Medium Projects: Proposals accepted anytime during the annual window (current window closes May 31, 2025; next window opens June 1, 2025).
• Frontier Projects: Next deadline is August 28, 2025 (annual cycle).
• Note: All deadlines are at 5:00 p.m. local time of the submitting organization.

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Funding Amount

• Small Projects: Up to $600,000 total for up to 3 years.
• Medium Projects: $600,001–$1,200,000 total for up to 3 years.
• Frontier Projects: $1,200,001–$7,000,000 total for 4–5 years.
• Estimated Number of Awards: ~15 Small, ~15 Medium, 1 Frontier per cycle (subject to availability of funds).
• Total Program Funding: ~$30M per year.

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Eligibility

• Eligible Institutions:
  • U.S. accredited two- and four-year institutions of higher education (including community colleges).
  • U.S.-based non-profit, non-academic organizations (e.g., independent research labs, museums, professional societies) directly associated with research or education.
• PI/Co-PI Limits: An individual may participate as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel in no more than two proposals (across all size classes) in any continuous 12-month period.
• Additional Notes:
  • For proposals designating USDA/NIFA as the funding agency, additional eligible entities include state agricultural experiment stations, university research foundations, federal agencies, national labs, private organizations, and individuals (U.S. citizens/permanent residents).
  • Proposals may not duplicate or be substantially similar to other proposals under consideration by NSF, DHS, DOT, or NIFA.

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Application Process

• Submission Platforms: Research.gov or Grants.gov
• Required Proposal Sections:
  • Project Summary (with prioritized keywords)
  • Project Description (including required labeled subsections)
  • Supplementary Documents (personnel list, data management plan, BPC/BPE plan for Medium/Frontier, cloud resource request if applicable)
• Letters of Intent/Preliminary Proposals: Not required.
• Cost Sharing: Not required (except for FHWA-funded projects, which require a 20% match for the FHWA portion; NIFA may have matching requirements for certain projects).
• Indirect Costs: NSF standard policies apply; NIFA awards capped at 30% of total federal funds awarded.

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Additional Information

• Medical/Health CPS: Only accepted in the Small Projects category. Medium-scale medical/health CPS proposals should be submitted to the Smart Health and Biomedical Research in the Era of AI and Advanced Data Science (SCH) program.
• Broadening Participation: Frontier proposals require a BPC plan; Medium projects must have an approved BPC/BPE plan by the time of award; Small projects are strongly encouraged to include such plans.
• PI Meetings: All awards require attendance at annual CPS PI meetings.
• Cloud Computing: Cloud resources may be requested via CloudBank, with details provided in a supplementary document (not included in the NSF budget).

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External Links

• NSF CPS Program Solicitation (NSF 24-581)
• NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG)
• Grants.gov Opportunity Listing
• CPS Virtual Organization (CPS-VO)
• CloudBank for Cloud Computing Resources
• NSF BPCnet Resource Portal
• Smart Health and Biomedical Research in the Era of AI and Advanced Data Science (SCH)

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Contact Information

• For general NSF help: info@nsf.gov | 1-703-292-5111
• NSF Contact Page

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