Distributed Intelligence

Abstract

Natural living systems, such as plants and trees, have decentralized structure. A tree survives even when some of its branches are chopped off. Grass continues to grow after repeated mowing. However, top-down command and control is the norm for engineered systems. There, a decision made at the highest level is transmitted to lower levels, where the task is usually executed in a very predictable fashion. Now with increasing size and complexity of engineered and other systems, there is a growing realization that their proper design and their needed robustness can only be achieved by increasing decentralization of their functions and their local intelligence. That is leading to the development of intelligent agent-based systems, which are applicable to wide varieties of applications.

This chapter starts with the description of an on-board chilled water supply system on a navy ship whose robustness was increased by decentralizing its control structure. Then, there is discussion on the need for decentralized structure for complex systems. That is followed by a narrative on how computer software has evolved from simple programs with subroutines, to objects, and intelligent agents. Then, the advantages of intelligent agents are discussed in detail with application examples. Finally, there is a short discussion on agent-based modeling and simulation.