PYI Award: Decentralized Control in Large Distributed Systems

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This Presidential Young Investigator is performing research in large distributed computer systems with adaptive decentralized resource control, i.e., collections of decision-making agents which reside on a geographically distributed set of computers and which control resources so that work can be carried out in an integrated and coordinated fashion. Finding good methods for adaptive decentralized control addresses the question of how to make task and resource allocation choices correctly and efficiently in light of the formidable problems which arise as a result of distributing control. Probably the most difficult of these problems is that multiple agents must make good fast coordinated decisions based on uncertain and differing views of the global system state. The research approach is experimental. The Principal Investigator will create a laboratory to work on problems of load balancing, network routing and distributed sensing and interpretation. The laboratory will consist of multiple workstations with a file server, interconnected by a variety of different networks for work on decentralized coordination protocols under different topologies, a general purpose multiprocessor allowing for experiments to be conducted with notes acting as controlling agents numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and development software, including prototype object-oriented programming environments and expert system environments.//