Petr Slechta

Distributed multi-agent architecture for automation systems

Abstract In the 21st century, industrial automation will be greatly benefited by the advances in electronics, information systems, and process technology. However, these technological advances are still separate islands of automation. We believe that multi-agent systems will help the future of automation by providing flexible and scalable ways to integrate the different parts. This paper reports preliminary results of an ongoing research project that demonstrates advanced automation in a highly distributed architecture that is made of a synergy of intelligent agents, control, and physical devices. This was built to achieve the goals of reduced manning and improved readiness and survivability in US Navy shipboard systems.

Industrial MAS for Planning and Control

In this paper, we summarize advantages of using agent technology in the design and operation of industrial control systems. To support appropriate responses to dynamically generated events, we divided the agent operation into two main levels: planning and real-time control. A higher-level software agent covers the planning phase and low-level distributed control agent provides the real-time control. The proposed architecture is targeted on applications where real-time response is essential but also more sophisticated higher-level control mechanisms are needed for efficient control. An implementation of such system is briefly described.

Multiagent technology for fault tolerance and flexible control

One of the main characteristics of multiagent systems (MAS) is fault tolerance. When an agent is unavailable for some reason, another agent with similar capabilities can theoretically compensate for this loss. The system can be designed not only for this kind of fault tolerance but also for others. Many key aspects of fault tolerance in MAS are described in this correspondence including social knowledge and physical distribution. We present a MAS framework that has been designed for control applications, in which fault tolerance and flexibility are key parts of the system

An Intelligent Agent Validation Architecture for Distributed Manufacturing Organizations

In this paper, we focus on validation of Multi-Agent System (MAS) behavior. We describe the simulation architecture and the system design methodology to accomplish the appropriate agent behavior for controlling a real-life automation system. The architecture is explained in the context of an industrial-sized water cooling system. Nevertheless, it is intended to operate in a wide spectrum of control domains. In general, after the design of the control system is accomplished, a set of validation procedures takes place. The current needs are to validate both the control and the agent levels as integrated parts. Hence there is a need to establish a general architecture and methodology for easing the commissioning process of the control solution.

A strategy to implement and validate industrial applications of holonic systems

Classical control systems are based on feedback techniques and models that generally cannot manage computational complexity, nonlinearity and uncertainty. Moreover, classical control cannot adapt well to the variability of the processes under control in a dynamic fashion. However, agent-based control eases combinatorial complexity by enabling a robust partitioning of knowledge and behaviors. It is a difficult challenge to create the infrastructure, development system and validation tools for agent systems. In this paper we discuss fundamental steps to achieve the foundation infrastructure for creating agents but also we address several guidelines to create the agents and the requirements to present this to non-agent specialists.

Cost-Based Dynamic Reconfiguration System for Evolving Holarchies

Autonomous, highly distributed control architectures are composed of a significant number of holons/agents that can reason and act on behalf of represented processes or artifacts in a coordinated manner. Depending on the social organization capabilities of the agents, the autonomous system could evolve into complex agent organizations called temporal holarchies. Cost-based negotiation supports the holarchy formation. Dynamic hierarchical teamworks architecture of middle-agents is described to increase robustness of the architecture.

Deployment of Agent Technologies in Industrial Applications

This paper summarizes lessons learned from real-life deployment of multi-agent systems developed by Rockwell Automation in the area of industrial applications. We mainly focus on fault tolerance, scalability, and reconfiguration aspects in both the design and runtime parts of the system life cycle. We also describe the tools that were essential for testing and debugging the entire distributed system

Multi-agent technology for robust control of shipboard chilled water system

Abstract This paper reports preliminary results of an ongoing research project that demonstrates distributed architecture based on agents applied in the area of industrial automation. This architecture has been built to achieve the goals of improved survivability and readiness of US Navy shipboard systems. We show benefits of multiagent systems in the area where flexibility, survivability, and scalability are required. We present the architecture of multi-agent system, internal structure of agent, planning technique based on plan templates, fault-tolerant structure of middle-agents, and development environment for agents.

Cost-based dynamic reconfiguration system for intelligent agent negotiation

Autonomous, highly distributed control architectures are composed of a significant number of agents that can reason and act on behalf of represented processes or artifacts in a coordinated manner. Depending on the social organization capabilities of the agents, the autonomous system could evolve into complex agent organizations called temporal holarchies. Cost-based negotiation supports the holarchy formation. Dynamic hierarchical teamworks architecture of middle-agents is described to increase robustness of the architecture.

A highly distributed intelligent multi-agent architecture for industrial automation

In the 21st century, industrial automation will be greatly benefited by the advances in electronics, information systems, and process technology. However, these technological advances are still separate islands of automation. We believe that multi-agent systems will help the future of automation by providing flexible and scalable ways to integrate the different parts. This paper reports preliminary results of an ongoing research project that demonstrates advanced automation in a highly distributed architecture that is made of a synergy of intelligent agents, control, and physical devices. This was built to achieve the goals of reduced manning and improved readiness and survivability in US Navy shipboard systems.