Dariusz Choinski

Multi-Agent System for Hierarchical Control with Self-organising Database

The paper presents hierarchical and multi-agent control and information system with real-time update of self organising database as well as with negotiation capability for control events and decisions. A practical application is presented, that utilizes the OPC technology in the continuous-time part, and scripts using XML in the discrete-time part of the system for negotiation and cooperation in multi-agent environment. This feature is applied for the improvement of a non-conventional biotechnological process control in the pilot plant.

Cooperative validation in distributed control systems design

The team of engineers designing and implementing distributed control system software must communicate within a multidisciplinary environment. One of the main problems is the interaction between hardware and software solutions. Software project presumptions may not be based only on minimum hardware requirements and on technology rules. Modern distributed control systems embrace all aspects of a complex and widespread object. Hence, every modification within any discipline requires interference into the system and validation of its new features, which in turn constraints effectiveness of designing. This paper discusses how to increase effectiveness and speed up validation, in a standardised CAD environment, by using: Multi-Agent System in order to limit the number of interactions between particular subsystems, ontology for assisting topology description and properties of system entropy for assessment of introduced solutions. The proposed system was implemented and worked out in a biotechnological pilot plant.

Application of the Holonic Approach in Distributed Control Systems Designing

Design of a multidisciplinary project is a complicated process requiring cooperation of different designers specialized in particular branches of engineering. The paper proposes a holonic approach to testify that a solution of distributed control systems is compliant with dynamically changing technology rules with ontology-based decomposition. The proposed holarchy includes a multi-agent system considering also its hybrid control architecture connected with a self-organization database. The proposed approach was implemented for a biotechnological pilot-plant continuously working as a platform for several process investigations.

Collaborative control of hierarchical system based on JADE

The paper deals with the design process supported by sharing information through a Multi-Agent System environment. SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) software systems are one of the typical applications in automation industry and are used for monitoring, measurement and control systems. The presented solutions are intended to enable collaborative control for automated plants in a platform independent way. In the proposed Multi-Agent heterogeneous system the OPC plays an important role as a powerful communication technology especially dedicated for real-time distributed control systems. Based on the OPC native protocol OPC Agents Ontology brings this automation communication protocol idea into pure Java JADE Agents environment and also supports in decision making process while participating in concurrent engineering process.

Multiscale Three-Phase Flow Simulation Dedicated to Model Based Control

Multiphysics and multiscale three-phase flow simulation is proposed for model based control. Three-phase flow is considered by means of particles movement in a pipe with two-phase gas and liquid vacuum pumping. The presented model and simulation algorithm were implemented using a software system working in real-time mode. The software system can simulate a part of the pipe net with configured pipe profile, pump station and valve parameters and also inlet mixture composition. In addition, the system includes algorithm for pressure control.

Metamorphic Controller for Collaborative Design of an Optimal Structure of the Control System

When designing a control system, the customer specifies some control requirements and the expert provides the parameterized optimal controller. A change of the control algorithm to a more advanced one may lead to a better performance of the closed loop system. On the other hand, implementation and parameterization of the advanced controllers require more extensive knowledge. A possible solution is a group of cooperating experts that are able to determine the most suitable control algorithm, depending on the customer’s requirements. However, in practice, hiring more experts is an expensive approach. Hence, the performance of majority of industrial systems is not optimal. The paper presents the metamorphic controller with extended functionality for selection of an optimal control algorithm (including advanced controllers). As a result, only one expert, cooperating with the customer, is sufficient to ensure the optimal system performance. The proposed solution has been implemented and tested on the industrial controller.

Cooperative Access to Hierarchical Data from Biotechnological Pilot-Plant

A hierarchy of data is dependent on the level of its complexity and on the amount of knowledge needed for its interpretation. Cooperation between users of the data at different levels of hierarchy requires development of plans to access the data for individual users depending on their needs. Such plans can be built basing on the common field of experience notion. The work presented in the paper focuses on increasing the cooperation efficiency through the use of a social bookmarking system maintaining the unambiguity of hierarchical knowledge structures. Lack of such structures would significantly impair the cooperation process. The proposed multiagent system contains ontologies for classifying non-hierarchical components and enables the exchange and comparison of the data structures. Thus, tags associated with the graph-based rules of social bookmarking can be classified using strict hierarchical terms. Presented solution was evaluated by supporting microscopic observations during experimentation on biostimulation of biological wastewater treatment process.

Ontology based knowledge management and learning in multi-agent system

This paper presents implementation of an algorithm that handles knowledge management and learning processes which are implemented in the existing Multi-Agent System (MAS). Both presented knowledge management and learning mechanisms are based on the implemented ontology mechanisms. Proposed MAS solution is based on the Java Agent Development (JADE) framework which is a Java based tool that supports creation of FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents) compliant agents. It integrates with various different OPC (OLE for Process Control) and database servers simultaneously. OPC is an open automation communication interface that is used to retrieve and analysis of various different real time data from the various different remote process controllers. To integrate OPC automation interface, presented MAS utilize Java Native Interface (JNI) which is a bridge between a Java and native programming languages. Presented MAS establishes database cooperation by means of the NHibernate entity framework which is a .Net platform specific, object relational mapper (ORM). Integration with .Net platform is performed by means of the highly refactored JADE Sharp module add-on which enables creation .Net agents compliant with the JADE framework.

Multi-agent oriented integration in distributed control system

This paper introduces a possibility of integration of Distributed Control System (DCS) by Multi-Agent System (MAS). Proposed solution is based on Java Agent Development (JADE) framework a Java based tool that supports creation of FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents) compliant agents. In the proposed Multi-Agent heterogeneous system the OPC plays an important role as a powerful communication technology especially dedicated for real-time DCS. Presented agents are capable of sharing their knowledge with other agents; they are capable of accomplishing tasks according to actual environment conditions. Proposed solution of the MAS implementation is a highly efficient, scalable and robust it utilizes mobility in order to ensure cooperativeness during distributed problem solving task. Finally, it has been proved that assumed Multi-Agent System considerably improves system quality, accuracy and reliability.

MAS-Based Cooperative Control for Biotechnological Process-A Case Study

The MAS-based control seems to be better suited for manufacturing control because of its discrete event character. Nevertheless, for continuous industrial processes the MAS-based control can be also very attractive. In this paper, a synthesis of the MAS-based control system for the continuous process is presented. A biological reactor is controlled using respirometric approach. In this approach, both standard control loops and additional experiments are performed to obtain measurements not available on-line. Therefore, the system consists of different control agents being able to cooperate or to inhibit each other in order to achieve the appropriate goals. A case study experiments are realized using an experimental wastewater treatment pilot plant.