Separating Agent-Functioning and Inter-Agent Coordination by Activated Modules: The DECOMAS Architecture

The embedding of self-organizing inter-agent processes in distributed software applications enables the decentralized coordination system elements, solely based on concerted, localized interactions. The separation and encapsulation of the activities that are conceptually related to the coordination, is a crucial concern for systematic development practices in order to prepare the reuse and systematic integration of coordination processes in software systems. Here, we discuss a programming model that is based on the externalization of processes prescriptions and their embedding in Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). One fundamental design concern for a corresponding execution middleware is the minimal-invasive augmentation of the activities that affect coordination. This design challenge is approached by the activation of agent modules. Modules are converted to software elements that reason about and modify their host agent. We discuss and formalize this extension within the context of a generic coordination architecture and exemplify the proposed programming model with the decentralized management of (web) service infrastructures

Methodological Guidelines for Engineering Self-organization and Emergence

The ASCENS project deals with the design and development of complex self-adaptive systems, where self-organization is one of the possible means by which to achieve self-adaptation. However, to support the development of self-organising systems, one has to extensively re-situate their engineering from a software architectures and requirements point of view. In particular, in this chapter, we highlight the importance of the decomposition in components to go from the problem to the engineered solution. This leads us to explain and rationalise the following architectural strategy: designing by following the problem organisation. We discuss architectural advantages for development and documentation, and its coherence with existing methodological approaches to self-organisation, and we illustrate the approach with an example on the area of swarm robotics

Updated Design for the ALICE Central Trigger

The trigger and data acquisition systems in the ALICE experiment have undergone significant changes in the last year. Thisis (i) in response to the incorporation of new detectors, (ii) the result of the use of front-end buffering schemes in theALICE sub-detectors and (iii) because of new more pessimistic estimates of the data volume generated by the TimeProjection Chamber (TPC). In this report, we review the specification for the updated ALICE CentralTrigger and examinehow it might be implemented using currently available electronics components. The User Requirement Document and theTechnical Specification for this system are being discussed by the ALICE collaboration.(Abstract only available, full text to follow

A pattern-based architectural style for self-organizing software systems

In this chapter, Jose Luis Fernandez-Marquez et al. propose an approach to engineering self-organizing software systems toward self-adaptation and resilience from an architectural point of view. They argue that the adaptation of complete systems is different from the adaptation of single components within the systems and propose an architectural approach based on patterns. Besides adaptation, the authors also claim to achieve resilience by leveraging the capabilities of self-organizing systems, which are able to modify themselves in order to continue providing their functionality even in the face of unexpected situations

Self-organising, open and cooperative P2P societies—from tags to networks

Abstract. For Peer-2-Peer (P2P) networks to realize their full potential their nodes need to coordinate and cooperate, to improve the performance of the network as a whole. But this requires the suppression of self behavior in the form of (freeriding). Existing P2P systems often assume that nodes will behave altruistically, but this has been shown to be far from the case (creating inefficient systems). We outline encouraging initial results from a P2P simulation that translates and applies the properties of Tag models (Hales 2000, 2001) to tackle these issues. We find that a simple node rewiring policy, based on the tag dynamics, quickly eliminates free riding between selfish nodes without centralized control. The process appears highly scalable and robust.