ASSL Specification of Emergent Self-Adapting Behavior for NASA Swarm-Based Exploration Missions

We describe a biologically-inspired approach to modeling self-adapting behavior of NASA swarm-based exploration missions, whereby individual entities in the system can sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the entire system. We investigate aspects of possible emergent self-adapting behavior of swarm-based systems, inspired by the self-sacrifice behavior observed in some hive cultures. Moreover, we propose an ASSL specification model for the self-sacrifice behavior of the swarm individuals. ASSL (Autonomic System Specification Language) is a specification language dedicated to autonomic systems, and with which we have been experimenting with some positive results.