Next Generation Connected Materials for Intelligent Energy Propagation in Multiphysics Systems

Exerting cyber-control over any natural resource and process has seen explosive growth, yielding technological breakthroughs in recent years. This impressive growth has so far stemmed from a horizontal expansion of control across application sectors, such as industrial, business, and household task automations. This article proposes cyber-control vertically across all application sectors, increasing its penetration to the programmable physics level. First, the foundations for a novel architecture for software-defined and interconnected multiphysics-as-an-app (MaaP) is introduced in this article. MaaP will allow for programmable control over the flow of electromagnetic, mechanical, thermal, and acoustic energy, even in ways not common in nature. MaaP is leveraged by next generation, interconnected, and smart artificial materials, which are explained and modeled in this article. A complete MaaP system architecture is introduced, covering the deployment, software, and communication aspects across multiple scales. Further, some research challenges posed by MaaP are presented. Moreover, unique applications such as products with real-time software-augmented physical properties are discussed.