multi agent diagnosis and repair
STW project DIT 5780
There is an increasing interest in developing automated systems that are able to operate in a dynamic and error-prone environment. For such autonomous systems, powerful diagnostic tools have to be used to detect possible faulty behaviour of the system without human intervention. Currently, the dominant and most successful approach to diagnosis for stand-alone systems is the model-based diagnosis approach.
Automated systems often operate in a distributive environment where other, related, systems are operating, sharing (and sometimes competing for) resources, plans and goals. Multi-agent systems technology tries to design and implement such autonomous systems (agents) operating in a common environment.
It turns out that the dominant model-based diagnosis approach is not simply applicable in a distributed multi-agent context.
- to extend the classical model-based diagnosis approach for single systems to distributed multi-agent based systems. The result will be a detailed description of a multi-agent architecture for diagnosis;
- to develop distributed, multi-agent based diagnostic techniques incorporating existing single-agent based techniques. As a result, a description and prototypical implementation of a multi-agent based diagnosis system will be delivered;
- to show the feasibility of the approach by applying it to a distributed air traffic control problem. The result will be a demonstrator for diagnosis and repair in a distributed agent-based system for arrival-departure scheduling.
This collaboration makes it possible to develop a multi-agent system for diagnosis and repair in which the three aspects are fully integrated. Considering the complexity of the application domain, this surely would be beyond the reach of an single Ph.D. student. Moreover, for this larger project, the utilization partner (NLR) is able to provide a domain expert who will aid in the acquisition of domain knowledge and in the realization of a prototype.
This airport planning problem is an ideal test case for the proposed multi-agent diagnosis research as it involves multiple individual parties (such as ATC, ground control, aircraft, air transportation companies) that have cooperate in order to satisfy their, possibly conflicting, goals. Furthermore, the tools developed in the project can be used to generate the models of the (distributed) subsystems that have to be diagnosed. Such diagnoses have to be performed frequently and efficiently as the system has to be robust for abnormalities (e.g., delays) that occur quite frequently in the domain of air transport.
Finally, the proposed research application is a promising one: successful solutions to the arrival and departure planning problem may have huge financial impacts, as air transport is likely to increase in the future.
NLR will apply the results of the research in a demonstrator for diagnosis and repair in a distributed agent-based system for arrival and departure scheduling.
NLR has also the intention to apply the research results in future diagnostics projects at NLR. Possibilities are the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) project and other projects in aircraft health management and prognostics.
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| Delft University of Technology |
Maastricht University
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NLR
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Utrecht University | |||
| Parallel and Distributed Systems Group |
Institute for Knowledge and Agent Technology |
Data and Knowledge Systems |
Intelligent Systems Group |
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