Elsy Kaddoum

Criteria for the evaluation of self-* systems

In the last years, the growing complexity of the current applications has led to the design of self-adapting systems presenting self-* properties. These systems are composed of several autonomous interactive entities. They behave autonomously and present enhanced characteristics allowing them to handle dynamics coming from exogenous and endogenous changes. In this paper, we propose a set of criteria for the description and evaluation of the adaptive properties of such systems. They aim to provide a concrete mechanism to analyze the quality of the design of adaptive systems, to evaluate the effect of self-* properties on the performances and to compare the adaptive features of different systems. The criteria are grouped into different categories: methodological, architectural, intrinsic, and runtime evaluation. They have been identified and specified by analyzing several case studies, which address self-adaptivity issues through different approaches with different objectives in various application contexts.

Multi-satellite Mission Planning Using a Self-Adaptive Multi-agent System

Mission planning for a constellation of Earth observation satellites is a complex problem raising significant technological challenges for tomorrows space systems. The large numbers of customers requests and their dynamic introduction in the planning system result in a huge combinatorial search space with a potentially highly dynamical evolution requirements. The techniques used nowadays have several limitations, in particular, it is impossible to dynamically adapt the plan during its construction even for small modifications. Satellites of a constellation are planned in a chronological way instead of a more collective planning which can provide additional load balancing. In this paper, we propose to solve this difficult and highly dynamic problem using adaptive multi-agent systems, taking advantage from their self-adaptation and self-organization mechanisms. In the proposed system, the agents, through their local interactions, allow to dynamically reach a good solution, while ensuring a controlled distribution of tasks within the constellation of satellites. Finally, a comparison with a classical chronological greedy algorithm, commonly used in the spatial domain, highlights the advantages of the presented system.