Enabling Cyber Physical Systems with Wireless Sensor Networking Technologies, Multiagent System Paradigm, and Natural Ecosystems

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are key components in the emergent cyber physical systems (CPSs). They may include hundreds of spatially distributed sensors which interact to solve complex tasks going beyond their individual capabilities. Due to the limited capabilities of sensors, sensor actions cannot meet CPS requirements while controlling and coordinating the operations of physical and engineered systems. To overcome these constraints, we explore the ecosystem metaphor for WSNs with the aim of taking advantage of the efficient adaptation behavior and communication mechanisms of living organisms. By mapping these organisms onto sensors and ecosystems onto WSNs, we highlight shortcomings that prevent WSNs from delivering the capabilities of ecosystems at several levels, including structure, topology, goals, communications, and functions. We then propose an agent-based architecture that migrates complex processing tasks outside the physical sensor network while incorporating missing characteristics of autonomy, intelligence, and context awareness to the WSN. Unlike existing works, we use software agents to map WSNs to natural ecosystems and enhance WSN capabilities to take advantage of bioinspired algorithms. We extend our architecture and propose a new intelligent CPS framework where several control levels are embedded in the physical system, thereby allowing agents to support WSNs technologies in enabling CPSs

Self-Organizing Mobility Control in Wireless Sensor and Actor Networks Based on Virtual Electrostatic Interactions

This paper introduces a new mobility control method for surveillance applications of wireless sensor and actor networks. The proposed method is based on virtual electrostatic forces which act on actors to coordinate their movements. The definition of virtual forces is inspired by Coulomb’s law from physics. Each actor calculates the virtual forces independently based on known locations of its neighbours and predetermined borders of the monitored area. The virtual forces generate movements of actors. This approach enables effective deployment of actors at the initial stage as well as adaptation of actors’ placement to variable conditions during execution of the surveillance task without the need of any central controller. Effectiveness of the introduced method was experimentally evaluated in a simulation environment. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method enables more effective organization of the actors’ mobility than state-of-the-art approaches

Revolutionaries and spies on random graphs

Pursuit-evasion games, such as the game of Revolutionaries and Spies, are a simplified model for network security. In the game we consider in this paper, a team of $r$ revolutionaries tries to hold an unguarded meeting consisting of $m$ revolutionaries. A team of $s$ spies wants to prevent this forever. For given $r$ and $m$, the minimum number of spies required to win on a graph $G$ is the spy number $\sigma(G,r,m)$. We present asymptotic results for the game played on random graphs $G(n,p)$ for a large range of $p = p(n), r=r(n)$, and $m=m(n)$. The behaviour of the spy number is analyzed completely for dense graphs (that is, graphs with average degree at least n^{1/2+\eps} for some \eps > 0). For sparser graphs, some bounds are provided

Energy efficient path planning and model checking for long endurance unmanned surface vehicles.

In this dissertation, path following, path planning, collision avoidance and model checking algorithms were developed and simulated for improving the level of autonomy for Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV). Firstly, four path following algorithms, namely, Carrot Chasing, Nonlinear Guidance Law, Pure pursuit and LOS, and Vector Field algorithms, were compared in simulation and Carrot Chasing was tested in Unmanned Safety Marine Operations Over The Horizon (USMOOTH) project. Secondly, three path planning algorithms, including Voronoi-Visibility shortest path planning, Voronoi-Visibility energy efficient path planning and Genetic Algorithm based energy efficient path planning algorithms, are presented. Voronoi-Visibility shortest path planning algorithm was proposed by integrating Voronoi diagram, Dijkstra’s algorithm and Visibility graph. The path quality and computational efficiency were demonstrated through comparing with Voronoi algorithms. Moreover, the proposed algorithm ensured USV safety by keeping the USV at a configurable clearance distance from the coastlines. Voronoi-Visibility energy efficient path planning algorithm was proposed by taking sea current data into account. To address the problem of time-varying sea current, Genetic Algorithm was integrated with Voronoi-Visibility energy efficient path planning algorithm. The energy efficiency of Voronoi-Visibility and Genetic Algorithm based algorithms were demonstrated in simulated missions. Moreover, collision avoidance algorithm was proposed and validated in single and multiple intruders scenarios. Finally, the feasibility of using model checking for USV decision-making systems verification was demonstrated in three USV mission scenarios. In the final scenario, a multi-agent system, including two USVs, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), a Ground Control Station (GCS) and a wireless mesh network, were modelled using Kripke modelling algorithm. The modelled uncertainties include communication loss, collision risk, fault event and energy states. Three desirable properties, including safety, maximum endurance, and fault tolerance, were expressed using Computational Tree Logic (CTL), which were verified using Model Checker for Multi-Agent System (MCMAS). The verification results were used to retrospect and improve the design of the decision-making system.PhD in Aerospac

On a test-bed application for the ART-WiSe framework

This report describes the development of a Test-bed Application for the ART-WiSe Framework with the aim of providing a means of access, validate and demonstrate that architecture. The chosen application is a kind of pursuit-evasion game where a remote controlled robot, navigating through an area covered by wireless sensor network (WSN), is detected and continuously tracked by the WSN. Then a centralized control station takes the appropriate actions for a pursuit robot to chase and “capture” the intruder one. This kind of application imposes stringent timing requirements to the underlying communication infrastructure. It also involves interesting research problems in WSNs like tracking, localization, cooperation between nodes, energy concerns and mobility. Additionally, it can be easily ported into a real-world application. Surveillance or search and rescue operations are two examples where this kind of functionality can be applied. This is still a first approach on the test-bed application and this development effort will be continuously pushed forward until all the envisaged objectives for the Art-WiSe architecture become accomplished

A Social Network Approach Reveals Associations between Mouse Social Dominance and Brain Gene Expression

Modelling complex social behavior in the laboratory is challenging and requires analyses of dyadic interactions occurring over time in a physically and socially complex environment. In the current study, we approached the analyses of complex social interactions in group-housed male CD1 mice living in a large vivarium. Intensive observations of social interactions during a 3-week period indicated that male mice form a highly linear and steep dominance hierarchy that is maintained by fighting and chasing behaviors. Individual animals were classified as dominant, sub-dominant or subordinate according to their David’s Scores and I& SI ranking. Using a novel dynamic temporal Glicko rating method, we ascertained that the dominance hierarchy was stable across time. Using social network analyses, we characterized the behavior of individuals within 66 unique relationships in the social group. We identified two individual network metrics, Kleinberg’s Hub Centrality and Bonacich’s Power Centrality, as accurate predictors of individual dominance and power. Comparing across behaviors, we establish that agonistic, grooming and sniffing social networks possess their own distinctive characteristics in terms of density, average path length, reciprocity out-degree centralization and out-closeness centralization. Though grooming ties between individuals were largely independent of other social networks, sniffing relationships were highly predictive of the directionality of agonistic relationships. Individual variation in dominance status was associated with brain gene expression, with more dominant individuals having higher levels of corticotropin releasing factor mRNA in the medial and central nuclei of the amygdala and the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus, as well as higher levels of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor mRNA. This study demonstrates the potential and significance of combining complex social housing and intensive behavioral characterization of group-living animals with the utilization of novel statistical methods to further our understanding of the neurobiological basis of social behavior at the individual, relationship and group levels

Social Eavesdropping in Zebrafish

Group living animals may eavesdrop on signalling interactions between conspecifics. This enables them to collect adaptively relevant information about others, without incurring in the costs of first-hand information acquisition. Such ability, aka social eavesdropping, is expected to impact Darwinian fitness and hence predicts the evolution of cognitive processes that enable social animals to use social information available in the environment.(...

Advanced Air and Missile Defense under Spatial Grasp Technology

A novel control ideology and technology for solving tasks in large distributed networked systems will be briefed. Based on active scenarios self-navigating and self-matching distributed spaces in a highly organized super-virus mode, it can effectively establish global control over large systems of any natures. The technology can use numerous scattered and dissimilar facilities in an integral and holistic way, allow-ing them to work together in goal-driven supercomputer mode. The approach can be useful for advanced air and missile defense in a variety of ways, some of which described and explained in this paper. The re-lated material has been accepted for presentation at The 12th 3AF Integrated Air and Missile Defence in-ternational conference, June 27–29, Stockholm, Sweden, http://3af-integratedairmissiledefence.com.Коротко викладено нову ідеологію та технологію керування для вирішення задач у великих мережевих системах. Запропонований підхід, який базується на активних сценаріях, що здійснюють самонавігацію і самосинхронізацію в розподілених просторах у режимі організованого супервіруса, може встановлювати глобальний контроль над системами довільної природи. Технологія дозволяє ефективно інтегрувати безліч розрізнених та неоднорідних об’єктів, дозволяючи їм працювати разом у цілеспрямованому суперкомп’ютерному режимі. Вона може бути корисною для перспективної протиповітряної та протиракетної оборони різними способами; деякі з них викладені та пояснені у цій статті. Відповідний матеріал прийнятий для презентації на 12-й Міжнародній конференції з Інтегрованої протиповітряної і протиракетної оборони, 27–29 червня в Стокгольмі, Швеція, http://3af-integratedairmissiledefence.com.Кратко изложены новая идеология и технология управления для решения задач в больших сетевых системах. Предложенный подход, основанный на активных сценариях, осуществляющих самонавигацию и самосинхронизацию в распределенных пространствах в режиме организованного супервируса, может устанавливать глобальный контроль над системами любой природы. Технология позволяет эффективно интегрировать множество разрозненных и разнородных объектов, позволяя им работать совместно в целенаправленном суперкомпьютерном режиме. Она может быть полезна для перспективной противовоздушной и противоракетной обороны разными способами; некоторые из них изложены и объяснены в этой статье. Соответствующий материал принят для представления на 12-й Международной конференции по интегрированной противовоздушной и противоракетной обороне, 27–29 июня в Стокгольме, Швеция, http://3af-integratedairmissiledefence.com