Bio-inspired coordination and control in self-organizing logistic execution systems

Abstract

In nature, complex systems grow out of a simple start (often a single cell). This growing process is environment-dependent: a cell receives signals from its surroundings, which significantly influence its activities. This results in a mature organism that is adapted to a complex environment in spite of the initial simplicity. This paper discusses a logistic execution system in which the self-organizing behavior is inspired by this natural process. The mechanisms for the self-organizing activities remain simple whereas the research focuses on providing a suitable environment to achieve and/or guarantee the desirable overall behavior and performance. The paper thus presents an approach for the engineering of self-organized systems. This approach however is only applicable when the world-of-interest involves the allocation and utilization of macroscopic physical resources (e.g. logistics, manufacturing, traffic). The approach cannot be readily applied to information-centric applications (e.g. grid computing, e-commerce).