Heritage buildings management: the role of situational awareness and cyber-physical systems

Safeguarding and conservation of cultural heritage is an important issue that requires both theoretical knowledge and practical implementation to efectively protect this valuable asset. In recent years, new technologies have enabled the development of advanced monitoring and control systems that can provide more precise and timely information about the condition of herit￾age buildings. Additionally, these systems can collect and analyze a large amount of data, allowing decision-makers to make informed decisions regarding maintenance and other management processes. With a situational awareness model proposed for heritage building conservation as a starting point, this work outlines how the design and implementation of a cyber-physical system to support conservation processes can be done. The model combines decisional processes that involve both humans and automated systems and can be used as a guideline for the realization of decision support systems for the management of heritage buildings. The paper provides a case study describing the steps for the realization of a cyber-physical system for automated monitoring and control at the Royal Palace of Carditello, a prominent cultural attraction in Italy.