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Improving Robustness to Environmental Fluctuations - Dynamical Hierarchies Included

Authors:
Dragana Laketic
Gunnar Tufte

Keywords: adaptation; environment; dynamical hierarchies; homeostasis; hormones

Abstract:
Dynamic environments present an everlasting challenge for any system, be it the one emerging in nature or the one designed by humans. Biological solutions - living systems, successfully tackle the challenge by adapting to their varying environment. Human designers, when faced with a similar challenge, may turn to biology to seek inspiration for possible solutions. Therefore, our previous work has considered strategies and mechanisms for achieving adaptation in living systems. In particular, the focus was on the achievement of adaptation through preservation of homeostasis and the role of hormones within such processes. This paper builds upon those findings. Further, it investigates one possible way to increase the robustness of an adaptive process performed by a man-made system where the system architecture is assumed to be of a grid-of-cells style. We suggest that some of the principles underlying dynamical hierarchies be used to enhance the previously developed model of an adaptive system in order to improve system robustness. This idea is supported with simulations which show that such model exhibits an increased robustness to environmental variations.

Pages: 123 to 132

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2010

Publication date: November 21, 2010

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4146

ISBN: 978-1-61208-109-0

Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Dates: from November 21, 2010 to November 26, 2010