一种新的多智能体强化学习算法及其在多机器人协作任务中的应用

在多机器人系统中 ,评价一个机器人行为的好坏常常依赖于其它机器人的行为 ,此时必须采用组合动作以实现多机器人的协作 ,但采用组合动作的强化学习算法由于学习空间异常庞大而收敛得极慢 .本文提出的新方法通过预测各机器人执行动作的概率来降低学习空间的维数 ,并应用于多机器人协作任务之中 .实验结果表明 ,基于预测的加速强化学习算法可以比原始算法更快地获得多机器人的协作策略 .

分布式强化学习系统的体系结构研究

强化学习是一种重要的机器学习方法，随着计算机网络和分布式处理技术的飞速发展，多智能体系统中的分布式强化学习方法正受到越来越多的关注。论文将目前已有的各种分布式强化学习方法总结为中央强化学习、独立强化学习、群体强化学习、社会强化学习四类，然后探讨了这四类分布式强化学习方法的体系结构框架，并给出了这四类分布式强化学习方法的形式化定义。

多智能体系统中的分布式强化学习研究现状

对目前世界上分布式强化学习方法的研究成果加以总结,分析比较了独立强化学习、社会强化学习和群体强化学习三类分布式强化学习方法的特点、差别和适用范围,并对分布式强化学习仍需解决的问题和未来的发展方向进行了探讨。

基于初等运动的多机器人避碰及死锁预防

该文以一实际应用为背景提出了多移动机器人避碰及死锁预防算法 ,该算法将机器人的运行环境形式化地描述为初等运动集、冲突图、总任务集及机器人作业集 ,利用集合论、图论的有关方法及技术实现了多机器人间的避碰与死锁预防 .当机器人的运行环境改变时 ,只需要对相应的集合描述文件进行修改 ,而不用对程序做任何改动 .算法的另一个特点是利用避碰算法巧妙地完成了死锁预防 .仿真和实际运行证明了该算法高效可靠 .

过程系统管理与技术的综合集成

在激烈的市场竞争中，过程企业不仅要重视技术、更要加强管理，实现全局优化运行。提高过程企业的市场竞争能力必须全面综合集成人、组织、战略管理、经营管理、过程管理及信息自动化技术等因素。本文以石化企业为背景，对过程企业面临的问题及发展趋势进行了分析，并且对过程企业管理模式、过程企业的体系结构以及过程集成与优化技术进行了探讨。

总线桥:概念、方法和实现

在基于不同总线标准的个人计算机、工程工作站以及一些工业控制机间建立高速的并行通信通道,将它们构成多机系统,能够以较小的代价获得增强的系统特性.本文引入了一种在系统总线间提供并行数据通道的异种总线互连底板——总线桥的概念,讨论了它的结构和工作原理,提出了其实现方案,并着重描述了为总线桥定义的双向并行通讯协议 BBP(Bus Bridge Prtocol)

多种监控系统基于CAN总线的联网设计

介绍了基于CAN总线的多种监控系统联网设计,该设计应用DDE(动态数据交换)技术实现VB程序与多种组态软件开发的SCADA系统的数据交换,通过调用动态链接库函数完成总线的数据通信,从而搭建了工业现场的信息化管理平台.

Mobilized ad-hoc networks: A reinforcement learning approach

Research in mobile ad-hoc networks has focused on situations in which nodes have no control over their movements. We investigate an important but overlooked domain in which nodes do have control over their movements. Reinforcement learning methods can be used to control both packet routing decisions and node mobility, dramatically improving the connectivity of the network. We first motivate the problem by presenting theoretical bounds for the connectivity improvement of partially mobile networks and then present superior empirical results under a variety of different scenarios in which the mobile nodes in our ad-hoc network are embedded with adaptive routing policies and learned movement policies.

The Implications of Philosophical Foundations for Knowledge Representation and Learning in Agents

Lacey N and Lee M.H., The Implications of Philosophical Foundations for Knowledge Representation and Learning in Agents, in Proc. AISB?01 Symposium on Adaptive Agents and Multi-agent Systems, York, March 2001, pp13-24.

A demonstration of wireless sensing for long-term monitoring of water quality

At a time when technological advances are providing new sensor capabilities, novel network capabilities, long-range communications technologies and data interpreting and delivery formats via the World Wide Web, we never before had such opportunities to sense and analyse the environment around us. However, the challenges exist. While measurement and detection of environmental pollutants can be successful under laboratory-controlled conditions, continuous in-situ monitoring remains one of the most challenging aspects of environmental sensing. This paper describes the development and test of a multi-sensor heterogeneous real-time water monitoring system. A multi-sensor system was deployed in the River Lee, County Cork, Ireland to monitor water quality parameters such as pH, temperature, conductivity, turbidity and dissolved oxygen. The R. Lee comprises of a tidal water system that provides an interesting test site to monitor. The multi-sensor system set-up is described and results of the sensor deployment and the various challenges are discussed.

Optimisation of Smart Grid performance using centralised and distributed control techniques

A massive change is currently taking place in the manner in which power networks are operated. Traditionally, power networks consisted of large power stations which were controlled from centralised locations. The trend in modern power networks is for generated power to be produced by a diverse array of energy sources which are spread over a large geographical area. As a result, controlling these systems from a centralised controller is impractical. Thus, future power networks will be controlled by a large number of intelligent distributed controllers which must work together to coordinate their actions. The term Smart Grid is the umbrella term used to denote this combination of power systems, artificial intelligence, and communications engineering. This thesis focuses on the application of optimal control techniques to Smart Grids with a focus in particular on iterative distributed MPC. A novel convergence and stability proof for iterative distributed MPC based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers is derived. Distributed and centralised MPC, and an optimised PID controllers' performance are then compared when applied to a highly interconnected, nonlinear, MIMO testbed based on a part of the Nordic power grid. Finally, a novel tuning algorithm is proposed for iterative distributed MPC which simultaneously optimises both the closed loop performance and the communication overhead associated with the desired control.

Integration of micro- and macroscopic models for pedestrian evacuation simulation

Simulation of pedestrian evacuations of smart buildings in emergency is a powerful tool for building analysis, dynamic evacuation planning and real-time response to the evolving state of evacuations. Macroscopic pedestrian models are low-complexity models that are and well suited to algorithmic analysis and planning, but are quite abstract. Microscopic simulation models allow for a high level of simulation detail but can be computationally intensive. By combining micro- and macro- models we can use each to overcome the shortcomings of the other and enable new capability and applications for pedestrian evacuation simulation that would not be possible with either alone. We develop the EvacSim multi-agent pedestrian simulator and procedurally generate macroscopic flow graph models of building space, integrating micro- and macroscopic approaches to simulation of the same emergency space. By “coupling” flow graph parameters to microscopic simulation results, the graph model captures some of the higher detail and fidelity of the complex microscopic simulation model. The coupled flow graph is used for analysis and prediction of the movement of pedestrians in the microscopic simulation, and investigate the performance of dynamic evacuation planning in simulated emergencies using a variety of strategies for allocation of macroscopic evacuation routes to microscopic pedestrian agents. The predictive capability of the coupled flow graph is exploited for the decomposition of microscopic simulation space into multiple future states in a scalable manner. By simulating multiple future states of the emergency in short time frames, this enables sensing strategy based on simulation scenario pattern matching which we show to achieve fast scenario matching, enabling rich, real-time feedback in emergencies in buildings with meagre sensing capabilities.

Strategies for water pollution control in Dhaka, Bangladesh: an institutional and economic analysis

This paper presents primary data based on research carried out as part of a large World Bank project. Results from our survey show that water pollution in Dhaka watershed has reached alarming levels and is posing significant threats to health and economic activity, particularly among the poor and vulnerable. Rice productivity in the watershed area, for example, has declined by 40% in recent years and vegetable cultivation in the riverbeds has been severely damaged. We also found significant correlation between water pollution and diseases such as jaundice, diarrhoea and skin problems. It was reported that the cost of treatment of skin diseases for one episode could be as high as 29% of the weekly earnings of poor households. Given the magnitude of the contamination problem, a multi-agent stakeholder approach was necessary to analyse the institutional and economic constraints that would need to be addressed in order to improve environmental management. This approach, in turn, enabled core strategies to be developed. The strategies were better understood around three types of actors in industrial pollution, i.e. (1) principal actors, who contribute directly to industrial pollution; (2) stakeholders, who exacerbate the situation by inaction; and (3) the potential actors in mitigation of water contamination. Within a carrot-and-stick framework, nine strategies leading to the strengthening of environmental management were explored. They aim at improving governance and transparency within public agencies and private industry through the setting up of incentive structures to advance compliance and enforcement of environmental standards. Civil society and the population at large are, on the other hand, encouraged to contribute actively to the mitigation of water pollution by improving the management of environmental information and by raising public awareness.

A UKST survey of blue objects towards the galactic centre - a search for early-type stars

We have begun a search for early-type stars towards the galactic centre which are potentially young objects situated within the inner few kiloparsecs of the disk. U and V (or I) band photographic photometry from the UK Schmidt Telescope has been obtained to identify the bluest candidates in nineteen Schmidt fields (centred close to the galactic centre). We have spectroscopically observed these targets for three fields with the FLAIR multi-fibre system to determine their spectral types. In particular; ten early B-type stars have been identified and equivalent width measurements of their Balmer and HeI lines have been used to estimate atmospheric parameters. These early-type objects have magnitudes in the range 11.5 less than or equal to V less than or equal to 16.0, and our best estimates of their distance (given probable highly variable reddening in this direction together with errors in the plate photometry) suggest that some of them originated close to (i.e R-g

Communicating open systems

Just as conventional institutions are organisational structures for coordinating the activities of multiple interacting individuals, electronic institutions provide a computational analogue for coordinating the activities of multiple interacting software agents. In this paper, we argue that open multi-agent systems can be effectively designed and implemented as electronic institutions, for which we provide a comprehensive computational model. More specifically, the paper provides an operational semantics for electronic institutions, specifying the essential data structures, the state representation and the key operations necessary to implement them. We specify the agent workflow structure that is the core component of such electronic institutions and particular instantiations of knowledge representation languages that support the institutional model. In so doing, we provide the first formal account of the electronic institution concept in a rigorous and unambiguous way.