On the Path Towards Autonomic Computing: Combining Swarm Intelligence and Excitable Media Models

The present article presents an approach towards the emergent field of autonomic computing by combining swarm intelligence and excitable media. It is believed that the combination of these scientific fields is capable of generating two important self-* properties required by autonomic systems: self-organization and self-configuration. An agent-based simulation is used to generate swarms, which are then thought as computing tasks; the excitable media is, on the other hand, implemented as a cellular automaton, which is what excites swarms to show autonomic computing features. The results show that combining swarm intelligence and excitable media is a feasible way towards autonomic computing and its desired characteristics, reducing systems´ complex design and implementation.