Towards Adaptive Multi-agent Planning in Cyber Physical Space

Cyber physical space is potentially hosting innumerable spatio-temporal data streams due to increasing use of social networking platforms as real-time information dissemination system and world-wide deployment of sensors for continuous monitoring of physical phenomena. In this paper we address the problem of how cyber physical space can be used for sensing and responding to global calamities such as earthquake. The paper proposes a novel approach of generating online adaptive response in assisting search-and-rescue operations using situation awareness built from real-time heterogeneous spatio-temporal data streams. Online adaptive response is achieved by using agent-based cooperative task sharing and modeling agent decision making as self-organized emergent behavior based on concepts of complex adaptive system. An implemented simulation platform use concepts of situation modeling, domain task network, contract net protocol based negotiation and complex adaptive system to generate adaptive plans. Preliminary simulation results are promising as we have been able to demonstrate a repertoire of self-organized emergent behaviors.