2 research outputs found

    Decentralized control of E'GV transportation systems

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    Egemin N.V. is a Belgian manufacturer of Automatic Guided Vehicles -named E'GVs- and control software for automating logistics services in warehouses and manufactories using E'GVs. In a joint R&D project, Egemin and the Agent Wise research group are developing an innovative version of the E'GVs control system aimed to cope with new and future system requirements such as flexibility and openness. In this project, we exploit principles and mechanisms known from situated multi-agent systems for modelling and implementing a decentralized control system. Instead of a centralistic approach, where one computer system is in charge of numerous complex and time-consuming tasks (such as routing, collision avoidance, deadlock avoidance, etc.), we aim to provide the E'GVs with a considerable amount of autonomy. This allows to obtain a system that is far more flexible than the current software - the E'GVs adapt themselves to the current situation in their direct vicinity, order assignment is dynamic, the system can cope with E'GVs leaving the system (e.g. for maintenance) or adding new E'GVs, and so on. In this paper, we describe the architecture that is employed for implementing the control of the E'GV system. The implementation of the control software seamlessly integrates with E'nsor, the low-level vehicle control system. We illustrate a concrete control scenario in which two E'GVs coordinate their behavior to avoid collisions. Copyright 2005 ACM.status: publishe

    Agent Based Modeling and Simulation: An Informatics Perspective

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    The term computer simulation is related to the usage of a computational model in order to improve the understanding of a system's behavior and/or to evaluate strategies for its operation, in explanatory or predictive schemes. There are cases in which practical or ethical reasons make it impossible to realize direct observations: in these cases, the possibility of realizing 'in-machina' experiments may represent the only way to study, analyze and evaluate models of those realities. Different situations and systems are characterized by the presence of autonomous entities whose local behaviors (actions and interactions) determine the evolution of the overall system; agent-based models are particularly suited to support the definition of models of such systems, but also to support the design and implementation of simulators. Agent-Based models and Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) have been adopted to simulate very different kinds of complex systems, from the simulation of socio-economic systems to the elaboration of scenarios for logistics optimization, from biological systems to urban planning. This paper discusses the specific aspects of this approach to modeling and simulation from the perspective of Informatics, describing the typical elements of an agent-based simulation model and the relevant research.Multi-Agent Systems, Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation
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