Download Intelligent Agent Organizations for Large Critical Infrastructure

Adam M.Gadomski
Proposal of EU Project
Project acronym:
Policebots
Project title:
Policebots for Large Critical Infrastructures:
an Intelligent Agents Organization to Maintain Survivability of
Large Complex Critical Infrastructures
Document status:
Technical note, confidentional , draft
Problem definition
Nowadays, the surviving and proper functioning of global industrial and information infrastructures
is a basic requirement for their users and managers. Modern industrial infrastructures are
heterogenious distributed systems. They include different levels of automation, regulation, and
control, but, for the safety reason, so called "intelligent" functions are related to their humans
operators.
In general, the functioning of large complex critical infrastructures, LCCI (such as, electricity, gas,
telecommunication, transport) are supported by, always more and more complex, different networks
of computer systems.
The management of survivability of these jointed networked systems requires:
1. distributed decisional support for their human managers and operators
2. integrity supervision: self-diagnostics and autorepairing capabilities
3. capacity of local autonomous interventions and task execution
4. capacity of the development of modifications and self-adaptation.
The all above tasks should be realizable by spatially distributed organizations of autonomous
specialized supervision and intervention units. The application of the human organizations
metaphor and generic models of immunological mechanisms of living organisms should provide
general patterns and ontologies for the modeling of an organizations of software intelligent agents
focused on the supporting of the LCCI functionning.
An intelligent agents organizations composed of tightly networked embedded autonomous software
units should enhance the dependability and survivability of LCCIs.
In this proposal we are focused on the generic, task-independent cognitive intelligence of such
agents and on the architecture of their role-dependent organizations.
As a test case, an organization of Policebots (softbots, http://www.botspot.com/) with the role of
an internal system supervisory ( including an auto-defence against different intrusions and hackers
attacks) is proposed. Here, the main critical intervention-goal is to avoid unexpected widespread
network failures and infrastructural disasters. Policebots should learn role, accept tasks and evolve
and adapt to the changing environment improving, in parallel, their acting capacities.
Project Objectives
The project is focused on two main research objectives:
1. Analysis and development of an architecture and functionality models of a policebot as an
cooperating intelligent cognitive agents.
2. Analysis and development of a generic model of Police-agency (a hierarchical organization
of policebots).
The primary objective requires development of semi–intelligent reasoning, goal-modification and
learning structures with sensing, communication and intervention possibilities adequate to their
environment. Policebot knowledge should include such rules and procedures as various access
controls, recognition of loss of data/information, encryption keys checking, diagnostics of loss of
functionality, intrusions and damage propagation, mitigation of losses and protection of integration
of the LCCI components.
The second objective also requires the development of the agent interactions and communication
network.
For the both objectives an identification of software platform is necessary. Its choice will depend on
the individual experience and preferences of the project partners. Here we should mention that the
development of a full-scale multi-agent software infrastructure using one of available MAS (Multi
Agent System) technologies is not the objective of this proposal.
We intend to simulate and validate of the developed ontologies, models and methods using
relatively simple but incremental demonstrative software.
Conceptual architecture of cognitive models interfacing decision-making models with cooperation
strategies and proper design methodologies of multi-task/goal interactions with the intervention
domains, policeagency, and policebots environment, are considered as the main item of this
proposal.
The project results will be a mindware ( goal-oriented computer implementable methods, models
and methodologies) and their benchmark based validation.
Summarizing, the results should provide a contribution to the foundations of standards of
the policebots design, organization, and their mission in Large Complex Critical
Infrastructures.
Project Partners’ Profiles
The project Policebots has strongly cross-disciplinary character, it requires four types of partners:
1. Domain experts, practitioners which will provide information and knowledge relative to the
description and functioning of LCCIs and benchmark building.
2. Modellers and knowledge engineers with the tasks of knowledge acquisition,
hierarchical ontology development, knowledge formalization and validation of incremental
prototypes.
3. Software developers with the implementation task, knowing agent –oriented software
engineering tools (languages, development environments ).
4. Project and results dissemination managers.
The following specialists contribution is requested: interdisciplinary system researchers,
cognitivists, knowledge and software engineers.
At a consequence, the partners should represent industry, software companies and academic and
research centers.
Workpackages
The workpackages of the Policebots project include:
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Systemic analysis of the main critical aspects of the project and available technologies.
Analysis and herarchical modelling of intervention domains, policeboat and policeagency
roles and architecture
Definition of problem ontology and the elaboration of a family of benchmarks with
increasing complexity.
Incremental design with parallel simulation and validation of the developing mindware
Results dissemination in the form of scientific and technical publications and organized
workshops.
ENEA’s Experience
The ENEA’s interest of the R&D of intelligent cognitive agents and their co-operations has been
started since the end of 80th. It was demonstrated by the organization of two International Round
table on Abstract Intelligent Agents, Rome 93, 94 and by the technical leadership and participation
in several national and EU RTD projects, they are illustrated in the attached list of the main
ENEA’s publications on this subject. The application field of ‘agent’, ‘intelligence’ concepts,
and artificial intelligence technologies especially are investigated in ENEA for the development of
advanced decision support systems for different types of emergency/crisis/hazards and for plant
operators and territorial emergency managers. This activity is illustrated in the long term strategic
program MINDES. MINDES scope has been the research and development of a methodology and
standard components for intelligent decision-support nods of territorial emergency supervisory and
management networks. This RTD long-term program has taken part of the wordwide GEMINI
Initiative of G7 (Global Emergency Management Information Network Initiative)
[http://wwwerg.casaccia.enea.it/ing/tispi/gadomski/gad-prog.html].
The other domains of the ENEA activity, closely related to the emergency management and
intelligent agents, are : human-computer interface, human reliability in man-machine systems and,
in general, safety and dependability of software systems [ ]. All the above subjects have also been
the domain of student theses tutored by ENEA in last years [ ].
In particular, the TISGI Unit has five strategic RTD activity lines:
1. Systemic and Normative Analysis for Automation of Critical Infrastructures
2. Safety and Dependability of Complex Electronic Programmable Systems
3. Advanced Decision Support Systems Technologies
4. Intelligent Cognitive Systems Engineering Research
5. Technology Transfer and Knowledge Dissemination
At present, they are realized in frame of the following ENEA’s RTD projects [ .. ]:
…
- From the above perspective, the proposal Policebots seems to be congruent and a natural
consequence of the ENEA’s experience and interests.
Contact Person
Dr. Adam M.Gadomski
ENEA, Casaccia Research Center
Via Anguillarese, 301
00060 Roma
Phone: +39-06-3048 3404
Fax: +39-06-3048 6511
Email: [email protected]
Annex : List of the ENEA’s reference publications and student thesis
….