22,763 research outputs found
Applying autonomy to distributed satellite systems: Trends, challenges, and future prospects
While monolithic satellite missions still pose significant advantages in terms of accuracy and
operations, novel distributed architectures are promising improved flexibility, responsiveness,
and adaptability to structural and functional changes. Large satellite swarms, opportunistic satellite
networks or heterogeneous constellations hybridizing small-spacecraft nodes with highperformance
satellites are becoming feasible and advantageous alternatives requiring the adoption
of new operation paradigms that enhance their autonomy. While autonomy is a notion that
is gaining acceptance in monolithic satellite missions, it can also be deemed an integral characteristic
in Distributed Satellite Systems (DSS). In this context, this paper focuses on the motivations
for system-level autonomy in DSS and justifies its need as an enabler of system qualities. Autonomy
is also presented as a necessary feature to bring new distributed Earth observation functions
(which require coordination and collaboration mechanisms) and to allow for novel structural
functions (e.g., opportunistic coalitions, exchange of resources, or in-orbit data services). Mission
Planning and Scheduling (MPS) frameworks are then presented as a key component to implement
autonomous operations in satellite missions. An exhaustive knowledge classification explores the
design aspects of MPS for DSS, and conceptually groups them into: components and organizational
paradigms; problem modeling and representation; optimization techniques and metaheuristics;
execution and runtime characteristics and the notions of tasks, resources, and constraints.
This paper concludes by proposing future strands of work devoted to study the trade-offs of
autonomy in large-scale, highly dynamic and heterogeneous networks through frameworks that
consider some of the limitations of small spacecraft technologies.Postprint (author's final draft
Organization of Multi-Agent Systems: An Overview
In complex, open, and heterogeneous environments, agents must be able to
reorganize towards the most appropriate organizations to adapt unpredictable
environment changes within Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). Types of reorganization
can be seen from two different levels. The individual agents level
(micro-level) in which an agent changes its behaviors and interactions with
other agents to adapt its local environment. And the organizational level
(macro-level) in which the whole system changes it structure by adding or
removing agents. This chapter is dedicated to overview different aspects of
what is called MAS Organization including its motivations, paradigms, models,
and techniques adopted for statically or dynamically organizing agents in MAS.Comment: 12 page
Post-industrial robotics: the new tendency of digital fabrication for exploring responsive forms and materials through performance
The contribution proposes the experimental results of research on robotics manufacturing issues for the realization of informed architectural organisms on a 1:1 scale. The pavilions
Fusta Robotics and Digital Urban Orchard and the technological system In.Flux represent the results of tests in which material, environmental and structural performance inform the computational process and the consequent materialization. The two pavilions, both wooden, constitute the physical implementation of different functional programs realised through a
collaboration with industrial partners. Fusta Robotics is the result of a collaboration between industry and universities for the tectonic experimentation derived from the use of local non-engineered material. Digital Urban Orchard is the formal expression of a complex functional program arising from the relationship amongst form (shape), function and context for a new
concept of socialization space and food production within the agenda at the self-sufficiency in Barcelona. Finally, through the In.Flux prototype, we investigated the relationship among formal generation, structural analysis and robotic manufacturing for the realization of concrete free-form structures. The analysis of the prototypes opens the debate on the role of IT in the post-digital era when the design process manifest through the control and management of the flow of information affecting the digital computation and fabrication and the material
behaviour. The resulting theoretical assumption considers the architectural form as the result of a diagram of forces where the achievement of the performance is the driving parameter for the formal geometric exploration. The continuous variation resulting therefrom is informed by performance parameters that define a new aesthetic which represents together the manifestation of objectively measurable performance parameters and the power of the tool through which the form is generated
Building Programmable Wireless Networks: An Architectural Survey
In recent times, there have been a lot of efforts for improving the ossified
Internet architecture in a bid to sustain unstinted growth and innovation. A
major reason for the perceived architectural ossification is the lack of
ability to program the network as a system. This situation has resulted partly
from historical decisions in the original Internet design which emphasized
decentralized network operations through co-located data and control planes on
each network device. The situation for wireless networks is no different
resulting in a lot of complexity and a plethora of largely incompatible
wireless technologies. The emergence of "programmable wireless networks", that
allow greater flexibility, ease of management and configurability, is a step in
the right direction to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings of the wireless
networks. In this paper, we provide a broad overview of the architectures
proposed in literature for building programmable wireless networks focusing
primarily on three popular techniques, i.e., software defined networks,
cognitive radio networks, and virtualized networks. This survey is a
self-contained tutorial on these techniques and its applications. We also
discuss the opportunities and challenges in building next-generation
programmable wireless networks and identify open research issues and future
research directions.Comment: 19 page
Expert systems and the emergence of teledesign
This paper considers the extent to which the amateur use of expert systems for home design challenges traditional views of the design process. The issues are examined in the context of competing definitions of design. The emergence of a design process characterised as ‘teledesign’ is then considered, wherein retailers provide a CAD/CAM service to consumers, allowing the latter to use expert systems to modify template designs and get products fabricated to their own specifications. Such a system may be seen to empower consumers as designers, rather than just selectors of products, and would differ considerably from established paradigms of design, manufacture and consumption, such as that given by Baudrillard
From manufacturing to design : an essay on the work of Kim B. Clark. Harvard Business School Working Paper- 07-057
In this paper, we describe Clark's research and discuss his contributions to management scholarship and economics. We look at three distinct bodies of work. In the first, Clark (in conjunction with Robert Hayes and Steven Wheelwright) argued that the abandonment by U.S. managers of manufacturing as a strategic function exposed U.S. companies to Japanese competition in terms of the cost and quality of goods. In the second, conducted with Wheelwright, Bruce Chew, Takahiro Fujimoto, Kent Bowen and Marco Iansiti, Clark made the case that product development could be managed in new ways that would lead to significant competitive advantage for firms. Finally, in work conducted with Abernathy, Rebecca Henderson and Carliss Baldwin, Clark placed product and process designs at the center of his explanation of how innovation determines the structure and evolution of industries.
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