On the combination of top-down and bottom-up methodologies for the design of coordination mechanisms in self-organising systems

Abstract

In resource-flow systems, e.g. production lines, agents are processing resources by applying capabilities to them in a given order. Such systems benefit from self-organization as they become easier to manage and more robust against failures. In this paper, we demonstrate the conception of a decentralized coordination process for resource-flow systems and its integration into an agent-based software system. This process restores a system’s functionality after a failure by propagating information about the error through the system until a fitting agent is found that is able to perform the required function. The mechanism has been designed by combining a top-down design approach for self-organizing resource-flow system and a systemic development framework for the development of decentralized, distributed coordination processes. Using the latter framework, a process is designed and integrated in a system realization that follows the former conceptual model. Evaluations of convergence as well as performance of the mechanism and the required amount of redundancy of the system are performed by simulations.