Infrastructure for Engineered Emergence on Sensor/Actuator Networks

Abstract

Our ability to control emergent phenomena depends on decomposing them into aspects susceptible to independent engineering. The amorphous medium abstraction separates what behavior is desired on a continuous space and how the behavior is implemented on a sensor/actuator network approximating the space, while the Proto language provides a means of composing self-organizing primitives on an amorphous medium. We thus separate the engineering problem into three components: a discrete kernel to emulate an amorphous medium and distribute code, a compiler for Proto, and implementations of high-level coordination and homeostasis primitives, allowing simple and concise expression of programs controlling spatial behaviors. Programs written using our implementation of this framework have been verified in simulation on over ten thousand nodes, as well as on a network of Berkeley Motes. Self-Managing Systems EngineeringThe study of self-organizing systems has now reached the tool-building phase, in which a new discipline of self-managing systems engineering can begin to emerge. The next step is to refine the principles of self-organization into a system of composable parts suitable for engineering-as the principles of electromagnetism are captured for electronic engineering in components like capacitors, transistors and resistors.To transform a science into an engineering discipline, we must identify an operating range, decouple aspects of the problem from one another, create standard interfaces for composition, identify primitive components which conform to the standards, and create rules of abstraction which hide the complexity of systems of components.We have begun this process in the domain of sensor/actuator network applications, observing that in many applications, the network is deployed to approximate a physical space, and that what is being programmed is the space rather than the network. This observation allows us to decouple self-management problems using the amorphous medium abstraction, so that global behavior descriptions in our Proto language can be compiled automatically into locally executed code which produces emergent phenomena matching the global description. We have experimentally verified our code both in simulation and (for small programs) on a network of sensor/actuator nodes.

Space–time programming

“…From this survey, it was decided to base field calculus on Proto [34], which is one of the few current general purpose space-time programming languages and which has quite general capabilities. Proto, however, has far too complicated a syntax and semantics (as developed in [39]) and is not practical for mathematical analysis.…”

Morphogenetic Engineering: Reconciling Self-Organization and Architecture

“…Engineers will have to abandon top-down imposed design and rethink their devices in terms of natural complex systems, approaching them rather by bottom-up "meta-design", i.e., the generic mechanisms allowing their self-assembly, self-regulation and evolution. The project of embedding ICT systems in the physical constraints of space and "in materio" granularity has been pioneered by innovative fields such as amorphous computing [1], spatial computing [20,5,6], organic computing [50], complex systems engineering [34] or emergent engineering [46]. ME, for its part, focuses on the strong architectural and complex functional properties of these emergent systems, and how these properties can be influenced or programmed at the microlevel.…”

“…Morphogenetic Engineering endeavors are related to those of other innovative fields that have emerged during the last decade, mostly during the 2000's: artificial embryogeny (AE) [7,33,43,29,15], amorphous computing [1,13,35,49], spatial computing [20,5,6], programmable matter [22], autonomic computing [27], organic computing [31,50], natural/unconventional computing [44,37], complex systems engineering [34], ambient intelligence [32], and pervasive/ubiquitous computing [48]. ME, for its part, focuses on the strong architectural and complex functional properties of systems, and how these properties can be influenced or programmed at the microlevel.…”

A Language for Large Ensembles of Independently Executing Nodes

“…Origami Shape Language [17] and Proto [3] are effective for programming distributed systems as a whole. They were originally targeted towards stationary wireless modules, rather than ensembles.…”