title: Self-organizing hierarchies in sensor and communication networks.
abstract: We consider a hierarchical multicellular sensing and communication network, embedded in an ageless aerospace vehicle that is expected to detect and react to multiple impacts and damage over a wide range of impact energies. In particular, we investigate self-organization of impact boundaries enclosing critically damaged areas, and impact networks connecting remote cells that have detected noncritical impacts. Each level of the hierarchy is shown to have distinct higher-order emergent properties, desirable in self-monitoring and self-repairing vehicles. In addition, cells and communication messages are shown to need memory (hysteresis) in order to retain desirable emergent behavior within and between various hierarchical levels. Spatiotemporal robustness of self-organizing hierarchies is quantitatively measured with graph-theoretic and information-theoretic techniques, such as the Shannon entropy. This allows us to clearly identify phase transitions separating chaotic dynamics from ordered and robust patterns.
authors.affiliation: Ageless Aerospace Vehicle Project, Intelligent Systems, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia. mikhail.prokopenko@csiro.au
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prokopenko
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Valencia
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Foreman
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farmer
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D004738:Engineering; D018531:Spacecraft / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data