Polymorphic Self-* Agents for Stigmergic Fault Mitigation in Large-Scale Real-Time Embedded Systems

Document #:

BTeV-doc-4010-v1

Document type:

Publication

Submitted by:

Derek Messie

Updated by:

Derek Messie

Document Created:

21 Mar 2005, 12:37

Contents Revised:

21 Mar 2005, 12:37

DB Info Revised:

07 Feb 2006, 10:51

Abstract:

Organization and coordination of agents within large-scale, complex, distributed environments is one of the primary challenges in the field of multi-agent systems. A lot of interest has surfaced recently around self-* (self-organizing, self-managing, self-optimizing, self-protecting) agents. This paper presents polymorphic self-* agents that evolve a core set of roles and behavior based on environmental cues. The agents adapt these roles based on the changing demands of the environment, and are directly implementable in computer systems applications. The design combines strategies from game theory, stigmergy, and other biologically inspired models to address fault mitigation in large-scale, real-time, distributed systems. The agents are embedded within the individual digital signal processors of BTeV, a High Energy Physics experiment consisting of 2500 such processors. Results obtained using a SWARM simulation of the BTeV environment demonstrate the polymorphic character of the agents, and show how this design exceeds performance and reliability metrics obtained from comparable centralized, and even traditional decentralized approaches.

Files in Document:

• aamas05.pdf (599.2 kB)

Topics:

• Computing:RTES

Authors:

• Derek Messie
• Jae Oh

Keywords:

multi-agent systems self-* agents stigmergy game theory SWARM

Publication Information:

published in proceedings of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (aamas) 2005 conference