ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)最新文献

{"title":"Autonomous Mobile Sensor Placement in Complex Environments","authors":"N. Bartolini, T. Calamoneri, S. Ciavarella, T. L. Porta, S. Silvestri","doi":"10.1145/3050439","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3050439","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we address the problem of autonomously deploying mobile sensors in an unknown complex environment. In such a scenario, mobile sensors may encounter obstacles or environmental sources of noise, so that movement and sensing capabilities can be significantly altered and become anisotropic. Any reduction of device capabilities cannot be known prior to their actual deployment, nor can it be predicted. We propose a new algorithm for autonomous sensor movements and positioning, called DOMINO (DeplOyment of MobIle Networks with Obstacles). Unlike traditional approaches, DOMINO explicitly addresses these issues by realizing a grid-based deployment throughout the Area of Interest (AoI) and subsequently refining it to cover the target area more precisely in the regions where devices experience reduced sensing. We demonstrate the capability of DOMINO to entirely cover the AoI in a finite time. We also give bounds on the number of sensors necessary to cover an AoI with asperities. Simulations show that DOMINO provides a fast deployment with precise movements and no oscillations, with moderate energy consumption. Furthermore, DOMINO provides better performance than previous solutions in all the operative settings.","PeriodicalId":377078,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134111694","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrating Reinforcement Learning with Multi-Agent Techniques for Adaptive Service Composition","authors":"Hongbing Wang, Xin Chen, Qin Wu, Qi Yu, Xingguo Hu, Zibin Zheng, A. Bouguettaya","doi":"10.1145/3058592","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3058592","url":null,"abstract":"Service-oriented architecture is a widely used software engineering paradigm to cope with complexity and dynamics in enterprise applications. Service composition, which provides a cost-effective way to implement software systems, has attracted significant attention from both industry and research communities. As online services may keep evolving over time and thus lead to a highly dynamic environment, service composition must be self-adaptive to tackle uninformed behavior during the evolution of services. In addition, service composition should also maintain high efficiency for large-scale services, which are common for enterprise applications. This article presents a new model for large-scale adaptive service composition based on multi-agent reinforcement learning. The model integrates reinforcement learning and game theory, where the former is to achieve adaptation in a highly dynamic environment and the latter is to enable agents to work for a common task (i.e., composition). In particular, we propose a multi-agent Q-learning algorithm for service composition, which is expected to achieve better performance when compared with the single-agent Q-learning method and multi-agent SARSA (State-Action-Reward-State-Action) method. Our experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach.","PeriodicalId":377078,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125920713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prediction-Based Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Inherently Non-Stationary Environments","authors":"Andrei Marinescu, Ivana Dusparic, S. Clarke","doi":"10.1145/3070861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3070861","url":null,"abstract":"Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) is a widely researched technique for decentralised control in complex large-scale autonomous systems. Such systems often operate in environments that are continuously evolving and where agents’ actions are non-deterministic, so called inherently non-stationary environments. When there are inconsistent results for agents acting on such an environment, learning and adapting is challenging. In this article, we propose P-MARL, an approach that integrates prediction and pattern change detection abilities into MARL and thus minimises the effect of non-stationarity in the environment. The environment is modelled as a time-series, with future estimates provided using prediction techniques. Learning is based on the predicted environment behaviour, with agents employing this knowledge to improve their performance in realtime. We illustrate P-MARL’s performance in a real-world smart grid scenario, where the environment is heavily influenced by non-stationary power demand patterns from residential consumers. We evaluate P-MARL in three different situations, where agents’ action decisions are independent, simultaneous, and sequential. Results show that all methods outperform traditional MARL, with sequential P-MARL achieving best results.","PeriodicalId":377078,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130197797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On Service Migrations in the Cloud for Mobile Accesses","authors":"Yang Wang, B. Veeravalli, C. Tham, Shuibing He, Chengzhong Xu","doi":"10.1145/3050438","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3050438","url":null,"abstract":"We study the problem of dynamically migrating a service in the cloud to satisfy an online sequence of mobile batch-request demands in a cost-effective way. The service may have single or multiple replicas, each running on a virtual machine. As the origin of mobile accesses frequently changes over time, this problem is particularly important for time-bounded services to achieve enhanced Quality of Service and cost effectiveness. Moving the service closer to the client locations not only reduces the service access latency but also minimizes the network costs for service providers. However, these benefits are not free. The migration comes at a cost of bulk-data transfer and service disruption, and hence, increasing the overall service costs. To gain the benefits of service migration while minimizing the caused monetary costs, we propose an efficient search-based algorithm Dmig to migrate a single server, and then extend it as a scalable algorithm, called mDmig, to the multi-server situation, a more general case in the cloud. Both algorithms are fully distributed, symmetric, and characterized by the effective use of historical access information to conduct virtual migration so that the limitations of local search in the cost reduction can be overcome. To evaluate the algorithms, we compared them with some existing algorithms and an off-line algorithm. Our simulation results showed that the proposed algorithms exhibit better performance in service migration by adapting to the changes of mobile access patterns in a cost-effective way.","PeriodicalId":377078,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126892590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Topology Management-Based Distributed Camera Actuation in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks","authors":"Goutam Mali, S. Misra","doi":"10.1145/3014430","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3014430","url":null,"abstract":"Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs) involving camera and Scalar Sensor (SS) nodes provide precise information of events occurring in the monitored region by transmitting video packets. In WMSNs, it is necessary to provide coverage of events occurring in the monitored region for longer durations of time. The Camera Sensor (CS) nodes provide the coverage of an event and transmit the video data to the Base Station (BS), when these nodes are actuated by the associated SS nodes on occurring of an event. Therefore, in the existing pieces of work, distributed actuation focuses on the coverage of an event and prolongation of the lifetime of the CS nodes. However, for distributed actuation of the CS nodes, the SS nodes play a vital role. When the data sent by the associated SS nodes in an event area exceed the preconfigured threshold, the CS nodes start sensing the event and send the video data to the BS. Therefore, in addition to the lifetime of the CS nodes, the lifetime of the SS nodes and their data reporting latencies are important aspects for distributed actuation of the CS nodes, while sending both the video and scalar data to the BS. In this work, we propose a topology management-based distributed camera actuation scheme, named TADA, to prolong the lifetime of SS nodes, and decrease the data reporting latency in event area only. The increased lifetime of the SS nodes, in turn, increases the event coverage and packet delivery ratio. To increase the lifetime of the SS nodes in an event area, the SS nodes with the most residual energies are selected as the packet aggregators. In addition, the transmission range of these nodes is decreased, and in-network packet aggregation is performed, while reporting the happening of an event to the associated CS nodes. The aggregator selection mechanism helps in balancing energy consumption of the SS nodes. Similarly, the decrease in transmission range and aggregation mechanism help in decreasing energy consumption of these nodes. The transmission range of the SS nodes is decreased using social network analysis and Coalition Formation Game (CFG). CFG also helps in decreasing the data reporting latency of an event by the SS nodes to their associated CS nodes. Performance evaluation results show that the proposed scheme, TADA, which is based on the distributed topology management protocol named T-Must, achieves high performance in terms of the lifetime of the SS nodes, data reporting latency, coverage ratio of the event, event reporting credibility index, and packet delivery ratio in an environment affected by shadow fading.","PeriodicalId":377078,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)","volume":"70 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126788401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"e-Sampling","authors":"Md. Zakirul Alam Bhuiyan, Jie Wu, Guojun Wang, Tian Wang, M. Hassan","doi":"10.1145/2994150","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/2994150","url":null,"abstract":"Sampling rate adaptation is a critical issue in many resource-constrained networked systems, including Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Existing algorithms are primarily employed to detect events such as objects or physical changes at a high, low, or fixed frequency sampling usually adapted by a central unit or a sink, therefore requiring additional resource usage. Additionally, this algorithm potentially makes a network unable to capture a dynamic change or event of interest, which therefore affects monitoring quality. This article studies the problem of a fully autonomous adaptive sampling regarding the presence of a change or event. We propose a novel scheme, termed “event-sensitive adaptive sampling and low-cost monitoring (e-Sampling)” by addressing the problem in two stages, which leads to reduced resource usage (e.g., energy, radio bandwidth). First, e-Sampling provides the embedded algorithm to adaptive sampling that automatically switches between high- and low-frequency intervals to reduce the resource usage, while minimizing false negative detections. Second, by analyzing the frequency content, e-Sampling presents an event identification algorithm suitable for decentralized computing in resource-constrained networks. In the absence of an event, the “uninteresting” data is not transmitted to the sink. Thus, the energy cost is further reduced. e-Sampling can be useful in a broad range of applications. We apply e-Sampling to Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Fire Event Monitoring (FEM), which are typical applications of high-frequency events. Evaluation via both simulations and experiments validates the advantages of e-Sampling in low-cost event monitoring, and in effectively expanding the capacity of WSNs for high data rate applications.","PeriodicalId":377078,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114138821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Control Strategies for Self-Adaptive Software Systems","authors":"A. Filieri, M. Maggio, Konstantinos Angelopoulos, Nicolás D'Ippolito, I. Gerostathopoulos, A. B. Hempel, H. Hoffmann, Pooyan Jamshidi, Evangelia Kalyvianaki, C. Klein, Filip Krikava, Sasa Misailovic, A. Papadopoulos, S. Ray, Amir Molzam Sharifloo, S. Shevtsov, M. Ujma, T. Vogel","doi":"10.1145/3024188","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3024188","url":null,"abstract":"The pervasiveness and growing complexity of software systems are challenging software engineering to design systems that can adapt their behavior to withstand unpredictable, uncertain, and continuously changing execution environments. Control theoretical adaptation mechanisms have received growing interest from the software engineering community in the last few years for their mathematical grounding, allowing formal guarantees on the behavior of the controlled systems. However, most of these mechanisms are tailored to specific applications and can hardly be generalized into broadly applicable software design and development processes. This article discusses a reference control design process, from goal identification to the verification and validation of the controlled system. A taxonomy of the main control strategies is introduced, analyzing their applicability to software adaptation for both functional and nonfunctional goals. A brief extract on how to deal with uncertainty complements the discussion. Finally, the article highlights a set of open challenges, both for the software engineering and the control theory research communities.","PeriodicalId":377078,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115339713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Introduction to the Special Section on Best Papers from SEAMS 2015","authors":"B. Schmerl, P. Inverardi","doi":"10.1145/3018658","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3018658","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":377078,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114349611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Topology Control for Self-Adaptation in Wireless Sensor Networks with Temporary Connection Impairment","authors":"Arijit Roy, S. Misra, Pushpendu Kar, A. Mondal","doi":"10.1145/2979680","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/2979680","url":null,"abstract":"In this work, the problem of topology control for self-adaptation in stationary Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is revisited, specifically for the case of networks with a subset of nodes having temporary connection impairment between them. This study focuses on misbehaviors arising due to the presence ofenskip “dumb” nodes [Misra et al. 2014; Roy et al. 2014a, 2014b, 2014c; Kar and Misra 2015], which can sense its surroundings but cannot communicate with its neighbors due to shrinkage in its communication range by the environmental effects attributed to change in temperature, rainfall, and fog. However, a dumb node is expected to behave normally on the onset of favorable environmental conditions. Therefore, the presence of such dumb nodes in the network gives rise to impaired connectivity between a subset of nodes and, consequently, results in change in topology. Such phenomena are dynamic in nature and are thus distinct from the phenomena attributed to traditional isolation problems considered in stationary WSNs. Activation of all the sensor nodes simultaneously is not necessarily energy efficient and cost-effective. In order to maintain self-adaptivity of the network, two algorithms, named Connectivity Re-establishment in the presence of Dumb nodes (CoRD) and Connectivity Re-establishment in the presence of Dumb nodes Without Applying Constraints (CoRDWAC), are designed. The performance of these algorithms is evaluated through simulation-based experiments. Further, it is also observed that the performance of CoRD is better than the existing topology control protocols—LETC and A1—with respect to the number of nodes activated, overhead, and energy consumption.","PeriodicalId":377078,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)","volume":"70 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121983203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Formal Design and Verification of Self-Adaptive Systems with Decentralized Control","authors":"Paolo Arcaini, E. Riccobene, P. Scandurra","doi":"10.1145/3019598","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3019598","url":null,"abstract":"Feedback control loops that monitor and adapt managed parts of a software system are considered crucial for realizing self-adaptation in software systems. The MAPE-K (Monitor-Analyze-Plan-Execute over a shared Knowledge) autonomic control loop is the most influential reference control model for self-adaptive systems. The design of complex distributed self-adaptive systems having decentralized adaptation control by multiple interacting MAPE components is among the major challenges. In particular, formal methods for designing and assuring the functional correctness of the decentralized adaptation logic are highly demanded. This article presents a framework for formal modeling and analyzing self-adaptive systems. We contribute with a formalism, called self-adaptive Abstract State Machines, that exploits the concept of multiagent Abstract State Machines to specify distributed and decentralized adaptation control in terms of MAPE-K control loops, also possible instances of MAPE patterns. We support validation and verification techniques for discovering unexpected interfering MAPE-K loops, and for assuring correctness of MAPE components interaction when performing adaptation.","PeriodicalId":377078,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS)","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127927478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}