A uniform software architecture for cooperation, reliability and reconfiguration of autonomous decentralized systems

Large and complex decentralized systems with autonomous components often require appropriate mechanisms for cooperation, reliability, and dynamic reconfiguration. It is crucial that these mechanisms allow the system to execute continuously for a long period of time with minimal disruption, despite failure or reconfiguration of some components. They should also allow various components to interact in complex ways. We develop a uniform software architecture for implementing these mechanisms using generalized techniques and common functionalities. These mechanisms also support a variety of application-dependent policies. We present a manufacturing example that motivates our work