On the possibility to design intelligent sensor systems after excitable media models: An agent-based simulation

Abstract

The present paper discusses the possibility to design sensor systems based on models of complex coherent action, more specifically, based on excitable media. Excitable media is a phenomenon seen in nature where, once the media reaches certain level of excitement, it propagates such level of energy to its neighbors. It is believed that such phenomenon can be used to design intelligent sensor systems since sensors have the job to receive an input reading and convert it to an output value or task; in other words, sensors are excited and, then, behave according to the level of excitation; which is similar to the way excitable media works. Moreover, given the fact that the signal is propagated across the media, a distributed application is possible where self-organization can be achieved, allowing the making of more intelligent decisions by the system. In order to show this, an agent-based simulation of this approach has been built where there is the presence of two types of agents; ones that act as sensors, and others that could represent tasks to be performed, other sensors, or robots that need to be controlled, etc. All these live in the excitable media and behave according to the excited sensor and to the level of energy that is read as the signal is propagated. The next lines of this document, thus, describe the steps that were taken in order to show the possibility to design sensors after models of excitable media.