Emergent engineering: design of evolvable architectures for large scale enetworked systems

紧急工程：大规模网络系统的可演化架构设计

• 批准号: 217201-2009
• 负责人: Ulieru, Mihaela
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: University of New Brunswick
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2010-01-01 至 2011-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=454139
• 关键词: Emergent; engineering; design; evolvable; architectures

How to craft the nervous system of our eNetworked world to enable seamless evolution through challenging times and adaptation not only to meet the unexpected and survive it, but thrive on it? Recognizing the fundamental limitations of engineering in dealing with highly complex systems, we frontally approach the radical shift of paradigm, brought by the ubiquity of computing and communication environments that link systems and people in unprecedented ways via eNetworks. One major characteristic of these new technological developments, termed here Cyber-Physical Ecosystems (CPE) - is that, given their very nature, they cannot be a-priori defined - but rather emerge from the interactions between individual components, interactions facilitated by the eNetworks. This challenges the traditional mainstream engineering school of thought in its very core in disruptive ways. In essence, the traditional active role of the designer in crafting the organizational, systems and software blueprint 'with the end in mind', namely by a-priory defining the system and its performance requirements following a hierarchical, 'top-down' linear thinking is being fundamentally challenged by the emergent behavior of eNetworked CPE which demand the designer to rather take the passive role of observer in the process of 'self-design' by which the system emerges its organizational structure resulted from the interactions between a myriad of elementary components. We aim to unravel an 'eNetwork DNA' and put it to work similarly to how DNA molds the fundamental cells in natural systems such that they can evolve to accommodate gradual or abrupt change in the environment or internal operating conditions. The aimed at new science of emergent engineering opens the perspective towards a wide range of applications critical today, including: disaster response through deployment of holistic security ecosystems, green electricity generation and distribution, pandemic mitigation, networked transportation and manufacturing, environmental monitoring and sustainability assessment.

如何打造我们这个网络化世界的神经系统，使其在充满挑战的时代和适应中实现无缝进化，不仅能够应对意外情况，生存下来，而且能够在其中茁壮成长？认识到工程在处理高度复杂系统方面的基本局限性，我们正面接近范式的根本转变，这是由无处不在的计算和通信环境带来的，这些环境通过网络以前所未有的方式将系统和人联系起来。这些新技术发展的一个主要特征，在这里被称为信息物理生态系统（CPE），是，鉴于其本身的性质，它们不能被先验地定义，而是从单个组件之间的相互作用中产生，由网络促进的相互作用。这对传统主流工程学派思想的核心构成了颠覆性的挑战。从本质上讲，设计师在构思组织、系统和软件蓝图时的传统积极角色是“以终为念”，即优先定义系统及其性能要求，“自上而下”的线性思维正从根本上受到enetwork CPE涌现行为的挑战，这种涌现行为要求设计师在“自我设计”过程中扮演被动的观察者角色，而系统的组织结构是由无数基本组件之间的相互作用产生的。我们的目标是解开“网络DNA”，并使其发挥作用，就像DNA如何塑造自然系统中的基本细胞一样，使它们能够进化以适应环境或内部操作条件的渐进或突然变化。针对新兴工程的新科学，为当今广泛的关键应用打开了前景，包括：通过部署整体安全生态系统来应对灾害、绿色发电和配电、缓解流行病、联网运输和制造、环境监测和可持续性评估。