Learning from Nature - First Self-Organizing Electronic Systems
Developed
Professor Peter Hofmann and his team at the Competence Center
Electrical and Electronic (EE) Architecture at the Technische
Universität Dresden (TU Dresden) have successfully developed the
first self-organizing electronic components. These so called
autonomous units form the basis for complex technical systems of the
future. For this purpose, the scientists have adopted the knowledge
of complex systems found in nature.
Organisms are structured according to the modular assembly concept –
cells form tissue, tissue forms organs and these in turn form the
organism. If individual cells die off, then the organism continues to
function. This is because although the cells interact with their
neighbouring cells, each individual cell is autonomous in its
function. If necessary, it is even possible for other cells to step
into the breach and take on a replacement function.
Engineers have been astonished about how effortlessly natural systems
seem to adapt to new situations. As an example, a population of ants
always finds the shortest way between food site and anthill without
possessing a central instructional order. The mechanisms which take
place in the human organism are equally fascinating, regarding for
example injured skin cells or even entire organs which can regenerate
themselves following an accident.
These particular characteristics of natural systems all have one
thing in common: They take place by themselves. There is no central
control function which issues the cells with a command. In fact, this
is the starting point for the researchers at the Competence Center of
the TU Dresden. They intend to develop technical systems with self-
organizing characteristics and to apply these in practice. One area
of application, in which researchers have a particular interest, is
the automobile industry.
When nature serves as a model for things technical, this is
called "Organic Computing".
Firstly, the Competence Center EE Architecture of the TU Dresden has
analyzed the basic physical and biological principles of self-
organization and abstracted them for their application in technical
systems. Following this, both the structure and tasks of the units
capable of self-organization were described.
In this process, each single element is given autonomy so they are
able to communicate with the other system units and – on the basis of
this communication process - to co-operate in a way that the
objective function is achieved.
This means that the communication process between one particular
element and its corresponding control unit is not fixed from the
start. On the contrary, the controlling unit is able to react upon
stimuli sent by diverse elements. If an electronic control unit (ECU)
breaks down, then another control function can integrate a new
element and take on its function. To illustrate this, if the control
switch for an electric window in an automobile should malfunction,
then it is possible for the driver to initiate an autonomous
reconfiguration of the system. As a result, approved by the driver,
the window control unit receives its information from another switch.
In this way it is possible to close the window using that different
switch.
Recreating a modern automobile, the Competence Center has developed a
test vehicle known as "August 1" with which the functioning of
decentralized electronic systems is currently tested. Professor Peter
Hofmann and his research team want to find out how single electronic
control units can be organized autonomously, i.e. independently of
other systems. The advantage of this would be for instance that each
wheel can be controlled and driven individually. As a result, the
scientists hope that automotive electronics can be made even more
reliable by decentralizing its functioning. Furthermore, decentrally
organized systems are very robust and able to adapt to changes caused
by the environment. In the field of technology this principle has
until now only been applied with computers in a simplified way. USB
ports are used to attach various external devices, which the computer
recognizes, accepts and integrates.
The Competence Center EE Architecture was founded in 2002 and belongs
to the Faculty of Transport Engineering "Friedrich List" of the TU
Dresden.
http://www.innovationsreport.de/html/berichte/energie_elektrotechnik/b
ericht-52179.html
j2997
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