Intelligent Interactive Technology

Multi-Agent Technology  for  Robust Aerial Vehicles

Our multi-agent technology is used in the joint CSIRO-NASA Ageless Aerospace Vehicle (AAV) project, in collaboration with CSIRO Telecommunications and Industrial Physics division. 

The aim of the AAV project is to develop and critically examine concepts for integrated smart sensing and communication networks, with the ultimate goal of developing a self-monitoring, self-repairing aerospace vehicle. A network is expected to self-organise in the face of damage to its parts so that robust monitoring and reporting continues as long as possible.

A modular multi-cellular vehicle skin helps in reacting to connectivity disruptions and cell failures. Each cell on the AAV skin is simulated by an autonomous agent:

One of the immediate tasks is the formation of impact boundaries that enclose the damaged areas - analogous to the initial clotting of a wound on a mammal. It is highly desirable that such boundaries form a continuously connected closed contour, and are robust to fluctuations caused by proximity to the impact. In short, the aim is to achieve spatiotemporal stability in impact boundaries. The figure below illustrates formation of an impact boundary (blue cells + white links) around the impact points (white cells) and the cells that suffered indirect communication failures (red cells).

Recent publications and reports:

• Mark Foreman, Mikhail Prokopenko, Peter Wang. Phase Transitions in Self-organising Sensor Networks. In Proceedings of the 7th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL-03), Germany, September 2003.

• Peter Wang, Philip Valencia, Mikhail Prokopenko, Don Price, and Geoff Poulton. Self-reconfigurable Sensor Networks in Ageless Aerospace Vehicles. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR-03), Portugal, July 2003. 

• Lovatt H., G. Poulton, D. Price, M. Prokopenko, P. Valencia and P. Wang. Self-organising Impact Boundaries in Ageless Aerospace Vehicles. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-agent Systems (AAMAS-2003), Melbourne, July, 2003.

• Abbott D., B. Doyle, J. B. Dunlop, A. J. Farmer, M. Hedley, J. Herrmann, G. C. James, M. E. Johnson, B. Joshi, G. T. Poulton, D. C. Price, M. Prokopenko, T. Reda, D. E. Rees, D. A. Scott, P. Valencia, D. Ward and J. G. Winter.  Concepts for an Integrated Vehicle Health Monitoring System.  Proceedings of 29th Annual Review of Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation (QNDE 2002) Conference, July 2002, American Institute of Physics.

• Abbott D., B. Doyle, J. B. Dunlop, A. J. Farmer, M. Hedley, J. Herrmann, G. C. James, M. E. Johnson, B. Joshi, G. T. Poulton, D. C. Price, M. Prokopenko, T. Reda, D. E. Rees, D. A. Scott, P. Valencia, D. Ward and J. G. Winter.  Development and Evaluation of Sensor Concepts for Ageless Aerospace Vehicles. Development of Concepts for an Intelligent Sensing System.  NASA technical report NASA/CR-2002-211773, Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, 2002.

• David Abbott, Shaun Cunningham, Graham Daniels, Briony Doyle, John Dunlop, Dean Economou, Tony Farmer, David Farrant, Cathy Foley, Bruce Fox, Mark Hedley, Jan Herrmann, Colin Jacka, Geoff James, Mark Johnson, Barry Martin, Geoff Poulton, Don Price, Torsten Reda, Grahame Rosolen, Andrew Scott, Philip Valencia, Damon Ward, John Winter, and Alan Young. Development and Evaluation of Sensor Concepts for Ageless Aerospace Vehicles. Threats and Measurands. NASA technical report NASA/CR-2002-211772, Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia.