In this perspective article, we first recall the historic background of human-cyber-physical systems (HCPSs), and then introduce and clarify important concepts. We discuss the key challenges in establishing the scientific foundation from a system engineering point of view, including (1) complex heterogeneity, (2) lack of appropriate abstractions, (3) dynamic black-box integration of heterogeneous systems, (4) complex requirements for functionalities, performance, and quality of services, and (5) design, implementation, and maintenance of HCPS to meet requirements. Then we propose four research directions to tackle the challenges, including (1) abstractions and computational theory of HCPS, (2) theories and methods of HCPS architecture modelling, (3) specification and verification of model properties, and (4) software-defined HCPS. The article also serves as the editorial of this special section on cyber-physical systems and summarises the four articles included in this special section.

在这篇观点文章中，我们首先回顾人类网络物理系统（HCPS）的历史背景，然后介绍并阐明重要概念。我们从系统工程的角度讨论建立科学基础的主要挑战，包括（1）复杂的异构性，（2）缺乏适当的抽象，（3）异构系统的动态黑盒集成，（4）复杂的需求功能，性能和服务质量；以及（5）HCPS的设计，实施和维护，以满足要求。然后，我们提出了四个应对挑战的研究方向，包括（1）HCPS的抽象和计算理论，（2）HCPS体系结构建模的理论和方法，（3）模型特性的规范和验证以及（4）软件定义的HCPS。