Victor Zamudio - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Victor Zamudio
Does chance have a role in intelligent environments? In this work-inprogress paper we argue that ... more Does chance have a role in intelligent environments? In this work-inprogress paper we argue that chance and non-deterministic behaviour can play a fundamental and important role in intelligent environments. We discuss how this behaviour can be both destructive and constructive. Underpinning our ideas is the view that intelligent environments may be seen as a complex system of interacting services. In the first part of this paper we show that such complex systems can produce unexpected interactions that cause unplanned and often undesirable instabilities. However, not all instabilities are undesirable and in the second half of this paper, we present a conceptual notion that views system instability as a form of irrationality and propose a quantum control model for service agents within smart environments. We conjecture that irrational control models enable the service agents to perform better than if they were using traditional, rational, control models. Our purpose in presenting this work is to both provoke discussion and describe our early research on what we hope will be an interesting direction for intelligent building research.
Cyclic instabilities can impact the performance of a multi agent system, especially in terms of t... more Cyclic instabilities can impact the performance of a multi agent system, especially in terms of the user's point of view. Different strategies can be use in order to prevent this problem. In this paper we present two strategies, ONL1 and ONL2 that aim at minimizing the collateral consequences of locking. These two strategies focus on minimizing the number of nodes locked, and also the total weight. These strategies performed better than the current strategy, INPRES, especially in very dense systems.
Avanti is an international and multidisciplinary project, were undergraduate students, from diffe... more Avanti is an international and multidisciplinary project, were undergraduate students, from different backgrounds, have the challenge to design an intelligent vehicle for the Mexican elderly in 2020. This venture is motivated by the convergence of a set of different initiatives: the creation of a new Technology Park, the desire to create a new technology-based businesses and the to need to attract students, innovators and entrepreneurs to propose new solutions to global needs. In this work we are assisted by a group of experts from different geographical regions (Mexico, Spain, Italy and United Kingdom) who help teams of students address this challenge. This short paper presents our work-in-progress by introducing the concepts, people (some 23 teams of students) and challenges associated with this project.
This paper addresses a fundamental problem related to the interaction of autonomous agents in per... more This paper addresses a fundamental problem related to the interaction of autonomous agents in pervasive and intelligent environments. Such autonomous agent could be static, nomadic or highly mobile, and in general, be programmed (rule based) to produce required behaviours by different users. In addition, the communication between these agents may include delays, because of the network, or because their own speed of processing the information. These two characteristics -the rules of behaviour and the temporal delays -could lead the system to display some unwanted periodic behaviour. In this paper we describe our work in progress which includes a framework to study this problem, and a set of initial guidelines to detect this behaviour. We conclude by describing the future direction of our work.
Mathematically based tools are proving helpful in coming to grips with the dynamics-both human an... more Mathematically based tools are proving helpful in coming to grips with the dynamics-both human and machine-of advanced networked systems.
In the future, homes will have numerous intelligent communicating devices, and the user would lik... more In the future, homes will have numerous intelligent communicating devices, and the user would like to configure and coordinate their actions. Appliances and people in intelligent environments will have some degree of mobility. If the user wants to go from one place to another, using the same community, the agent should be able to generalize the service, trying to build an equivalent collection of coordinating services. This ‘work in progress’ paper addresses this issue by proposing a multi-dimensional model that allows visualistation of devices, temporal relationships, mutual interdependencies and the environment dynamics. The model both offers a simplified means of visualising the task space and the interdependencies together with a means of reasoning about algorithmic solutions to task processing. The work is aimed at supporting research into Pervasive Home Environment Networks (PHEN) which is funded by the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry Next Wave Technologies and Markets programme.
International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, 2009
This paper addresses a fundamental problem related to the interaction of rule-based autonomous ag... more This paper addresses a fundamental problem related to the interaction of rule-based autonomous agents in pervasive and intelligent environments. Some rules of behaviour can lead a multi-agent system to display unwanted periodic behaviour, such as networked appliances cycling on and off. We present a framework called Interaction Networks (IN) as a tool to describe and analyse this phenomena. In support of this, and as an aid to the visualisation and understanding of the temporal evolution of agent states, we offer a graphical Multidimensional Model (MDM). We describe an Instability Prevention System (INPRES) based in identifying and locking network nodes. Both IN, MDM and INPRESS enable system designers to identify and prevent such unwanted behaviour. Finally we introduce an Interaction Benchmark (IB) that we use to evaluate, experimentally, the effectiveness of our approach using both simulated and physical implementations.
Ambient Intelligence, and in general, any autonomous rule based system has been found to suffer f... more Ambient Intelligence, and in general, any autonomous rule based system has been found to suffer from cyclic instability. This behaviour is characterized by unwanted oscillations, due to interacting rules within networks of pervasive computing devices. The binary behaviour of each agent is defined via a set of boolean rules, and the behaviour of the system as a whole is given by the ensemble of rules defined over the set of agents. From complex theory it has been found that the problem of cyclic instability cannot be solved analytically; however, it is possible to prevent it. In this paper we present a novel solution based on locking, to prevent cyclic instability. This strategy makes use of the topological properties of the digraph associated called Interaction Network (IN), and the local rules of the interacting agents. The concept of strong and weak coupling is introduced. Using the strong and weak concepts, a strategy c-INPRES that minimizes the number of agents locked is presented. Preliminary and encouraging results are shown.
Does chance have a role in intelligent environments? In this work-inprogress paper we argue that ... more Does chance have a role in intelligent environments? In this work-inprogress paper we argue that chance and non-deterministic behaviour can play a fundamental and important role in intelligent environments. We discuss how this behaviour can be both destructive and constructive. Underpinning our ideas is the view that intelligent environments may be seen as a complex system of interacting services. In the first part of this paper we show that such complex systems can produce unexpected interactions that cause unplanned and often undesirable instabilities. However, not all instabilities are undesirable and in the second half of this paper, we present a conceptual notion that views system instability as a form of irrationality and propose a quantum control model for service agents within smart environments. We conjecture that irrational control models enable the service agents to perform better than if they were using traditional, rational, control models. Our purpose in presenting this work is to both provoke discussion and describe our early research on what we hope will be an interesting direction for intelligent building research.
Cyclic instabilities can impact the performance of a multi agent system, especially in terms of t... more Cyclic instabilities can impact the performance of a multi agent system, especially in terms of the user's point of view. Different strategies can be use in order to prevent this problem. In this paper we present two strategies, ONL1 and ONL2 that aim at minimizing the collateral consequences of locking. These two strategies focus on minimizing the number of nodes locked, and also the total weight. These strategies performed better than the current strategy, INPRES, especially in very dense systems.
Avanti is an international and multidisciplinary project, were undergraduate students, from diffe... more Avanti is an international and multidisciplinary project, were undergraduate students, from different backgrounds, have the challenge to design an intelligent vehicle for the Mexican elderly in 2020. This venture is motivated by the convergence of a set of different initiatives: the creation of a new Technology Park, the desire to create a new technology-based businesses and the to need to attract students, innovators and entrepreneurs to propose new solutions to global needs. In this work we are assisted by a group of experts from different geographical regions (Mexico, Spain, Italy and United Kingdom) who help teams of students address this challenge. This short paper presents our work-in-progress by introducing the concepts, people (some 23 teams of students) and challenges associated with this project.
This paper addresses a fundamental problem related to the interaction of autonomous agents in per... more This paper addresses a fundamental problem related to the interaction of autonomous agents in pervasive and intelligent environments. Such autonomous agent could be static, nomadic or highly mobile, and in general, be programmed (rule based) to produce required behaviours by different users. In addition, the communication between these agents may include delays, because of the network, or because their own speed of processing the information. These two characteristics -the rules of behaviour and the temporal delays -could lead the system to display some unwanted periodic behaviour. In this paper we describe our work in progress which includes a framework to study this problem, and a set of initial guidelines to detect this behaviour. We conclude by describing the future direction of our work.
Mathematically based tools are proving helpful in coming to grips with the dynamics-both human an... more Mathematically based tools are proving helpful in coming to grips with the dynamics-both human and machine-of advanced networked systems.
In the future, homes will have numerous intelligent communicating devices, and the user would lik... more In the future, homes will have numerous intelligent communicating devices, and the user would like to configure and coordinate their actions. Appliances and people in intelligent environments will have some degree of mobility. If the user wants to go from one place to another, using the same community, the agent should be able to generalize the service, trying to build an equivalent collection of coordinating services. This ‘work in progress’ paper addresses this issue by proposing a multi-dimensional model that allows visualistation of devices, temporal relationships, mutual interdependencies and the environment dynamics. The model both offers a simplified means of visualising the task space and the interdependencies together with a means of reasoning about algorithmic solutions to task processing. The work is aimed at supporting research into Pervasive Home Environment Networks (PHEN) which is funded by the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry Next Wave Technologies and Markets programme.
International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, 2009
This paper addresses a fundamental problem related to the interaction of rule-based autonomous ag... more This paper addresses a fundamental problem related to the interaction of rule-based autonomous agents in pervasive and intelligent environments. Some rules of behaviour can lead a multi-agent system to display unwanted periodic behaviour, such as networked appliances cycling on and off. We present a framework called Interaction Networks (IN) as a tool to describe and analyse this phenomena. In support of this, and as an aid to the visualisation and understanding of the temporal evolution of agent states, we offer a graphical Multidimensional Model (MDM). We describe an Instability Prevention System (INPRES) based in identifying and locking network nodes. Both IN, MDM and INPRESS enable system designers to identify and prevent such unwanted behaviour. Finally we introduce an Interaction Benchmark (IB) that we use to evaluate, experimentally, the effectiveness of our approach using both simulated and physical implementations.
Ambient Intelligence, and in general, any autonomous rule based system has been found to suffer f... more Ambient Intelligence, and in general, any autonomous rule based system has been found to suffer from cyclic instability. This behaviour is characterized by unwanted oscillations, due to interacting rules within networks of pervasive computing devices. The binary behaviour of each agent is defined via a set of boolean rules, and the behaviour of the system as a whole is given by the ensemble of rules defined over the set of agents. From complex theory it has been found that the problem of cyclic instability cannot be solved analytically; however, it is possible to prevent it. In this paper we present a novel solution based on locking, to prevent cyclic instability. This strategy makes use of the topological properties of the digraph associated called Interaction Network (IN), and the local rules of the interacting agents. The concept of strong and weak coupling is introduced. Using the strong and weak concepts, a strategy c-INPRES that minimizes the number of agents locked is presented. Preliminary and encouraging results are shown.