Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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The abstract problem
Control personal has to manage a
complex system
Identify problems
Understand the problems
Classify
Explain
Evaluate problems
Anticipate consequences
Solve the problems
Generate a plan
Take actions
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Why Agents?!
Agents design advantages for control
systems
Easy design - Each agent corresponds to
some role in the system (very self
explaining)
Abstraction
Functions object agents
Task oriented
Basic and compound methods.
Social methods.
Knowledge based
The expertise model can be improved
Reuse – Same role at different environment
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Why Agents?!
Decision Support Systems
interact/replace human beings
Decisions must be understandable to
human, therefore using agents will yield:
better understanding of each role in the system
Each role supports the humans
At any level of expertise
better understanding of the Logic and interactions
among the components
There already is a control structure
Agents replace the existing structure
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Problems Characteristics
A lot of input
Background work
Human decision maker at the end
Task oriented
Examples:
Energy management
Traffic management
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Energy Management
Power plants generate electricity
Final consumption takes place far away
Many things can go wrong in the middle:
Unpredictable problems:
Equipment damage
Disasters (winds, lightning)
Predictable problems:
Temperature changes
Overall demand changes.
Some damages effect quality while others
deny the service
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The Architecture
Based on a network of a company in
Spain
Networks are managed from a control
room
Information is sent to the control room
Protection equipment can be remotely
operated
Field engineer operate in the field
The network consists of substations,
and each substation consists of:
Lines
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Breakers & switches
The Goal
Main Problem:
Usually caused by short circuits in the lines
Malfunctioning equipment may cause a
chain reaction that extends the area of
effect
Solution
Isolating the effected area usually solves
the problem
The goal:
Minimize the disconnected area
restore supply as soon as possible
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The electricity transport
management problem
Control personal has to manage a
complex system - control the switches
and breakers
Identify malfunctioning in switches and
breakers
Understand the problems
Classify - Diagnose the problem
Explain the alarm messages according to the
diagnosis
Evaluate problems
Anticipate consequences that may cause
expansion of the area of effect
Solve the problems 9
The Multi-Agent
Architecture
Constraints:
Existing expert systems
Existing configuration of the data
transmission
Two formats
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The Multi-Agent
Architecture
Alarm Analysis Agents
Replaces an existing expert system
Methods:
Reads messages
Detects faults
Establishes hypotheses regarding the
malfunctioning equipment
Basic methods & compound methods
Rule based
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The Multi-Agent
Architecture
Control System Interface Agent
constitutes the application’s front end to the
user
Basic methods:
Acquires and distributes network data to other agents
(formats the message for use by other agents)
Done using a hard-wired algorithm
Disturbance Detection
Alarm Analysis
Alarm
AgentAnalysis
Agent
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Additional Agents
Blackout Area Identifier
Determines the results of a given scenario (network
state and faults)
Rule based
Service Restoration Agent
Proposes a switching plan given alarm messages and
the results of the diagnosis
User Interface Agent
Serves as an interface between the multi-agent
system and the users for presenting data
Browse through the lists of alarms
Display results of diagnosis along with explanations
Sets up guidelines for the other agents
Simulates the effect of a restoration plan 14
Coordination
Can be done with an acquaintance
model
Frames that contain the methods that
the other agents can perform
including:
The types of the methods
The competence with which the method
can be applied
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Summary
The energy transport problem is
very suitable for DSS
Every agent decision may be
explained to the responsible engineer
using the trace of the reasoning
methods
Problem definition fits into the
abstract problem definition
The multi-agent system managed to
cope with the existing constraints
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Road Traffic Management
Traffic flows on public roads
increase at high rate
Number of vehicles increase
Roads infrastructure cannot be expanded
Significant economic loses
Traffic Control Centers (TCC)
In charge of managing urban transport
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Available Information
Messages from human observers
Gal-Galatz
Policemen
Devices
TV cameras
Cellular phone
Sensors
Loop detectors -Installed on strategic channels
Speed - mean velocity of the passing vehicles
Flow - average number of vehicles per unit of time
Occupancy - average time that vehicles are spotted
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Available Control Devices
Variable Message Sings (VMS)
Installed above the road
(like those on the way to Tel-Aviv)
Traffic signs (closed road sign)
Arbitrary message signs
Traffic lights
Parameters of the traffic light can be
modified
Relative amount of green time
Overall length of a cycle
Order of traffic lights
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The Urban Highway Traffic
Control Problem
system – Control the traffic lights and
VMSs
Identify and locate problematic situation
Understand the problems
Classify the cause of the problem
(congestion/accident)
Explain the problem in terms of traffic flows
Evaluate problems
Anticipate consequences due to chain reactions of
the congestion
Solve the problems
Generate a legal sign plan and/or traffic lights
handling plan, in order to eliminate or alleviate20
the congestion
The Multi-Agent
Architecture
The structure of the system was
dictated by the way human operators
worked
Problem areas topology
All agents share the same
architecture and the same reasoning
structure
Their knowledge however, was based on
the specific problem area in their
responsibility
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Basic Methods of the
Agents
Data abstraction
Determines qualitative measure for different variables
Problem Type identification
Takes the data generated by the data abstraction method
and classifies the underlying problem
Done by matching the data against problem scenario
frames
Demand estimation
Calculate ‘the normal’ demand for a section of the network
Based on temporal pattern (hour, day of week, events...)
Effect estimation
Anticipates the effect of flows on a certain problem
The state of the control devices
Signal plan selection
Short term prediction estimation 22
Compound Methods
Heuristic classification
Problem solving method
Acquires relevant information
Problems type are matches upon the
information
The problems are integrated and refined
Contributor differentiation
Determines how much a set of causes
contributes to a problem
Identifies possible contributors
Estimates each contributor
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Compound Methods
Generate & Test
Evaluates proposals generated by the basic
method until an adequate plan is found
Depends on outside constraints (coordination)
Local management
Manages the network by integrating all the
methods
Identifies traffic problem
Diagnoses its causes
Generate a proper plan to overcome it.
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Coordination
Problem areas are not disjoint
Physical conflicts
Logical conflicts
Two coordination solutions
Coordinator agent
Peer-to-peer communication
Acquaintance model
Does not represent information concerning method
of other agents
Describes the resources that acquaintances
require and which effects they may have (on
sections in the agent’s problem area)
Local plans are sent to the relevant agents
The agent with the most severe problem takes
precedence 25
Summary
Once again a DSS is a very
suitable solution
The traffic management problem fits
the abstract DSS problem
The DSS had to be based on existing
control engineer’s understanding of a
town’s traffic behavior
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Additional Potential
Examples
Intelligence Word
Medicine
Every other problem that fits that
abstract problem definition…
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