Figure 2 - uploaded by Charles Robinson
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
This project investigates aspects of the dynamic control problem where, for example, timeliness, robustness and fault tolerance are critical. An objective is to produce a non-hierarchical structure with the potential for emergent intelligent behaviour, such as would benefit an autonomous vehicle system. Following a general introduction, there is an...
Similar publications
The combination of data from multiple sensors, also known as sensor fusion or data fusion, is a key aspect in the design of autonomous robots. In particular, algorithms able to accommodate sensor fusion techniques enable increased accuracy, and are more resilient against the malfunction of individual sensors. The development of algorithms for auton...
Citations
... A more general definition of an agent is also provided in [22] which basically defines an agent as an autonomous entity that can either communicate with other agents or solve problems on its own in an embedded environment. In addition, agents are able to control its internal state and outputs. ...
... Therefore, it is important to understand and appreciate the underlying principles of agent theory for agent design and development. Various agent theories which attempt to capture different aspects of intelligent behaviors are discussed in [22]. In the following sections, some agent theories which attempt to capture different aspects of intelligent behaviors that can result in varying degrees of intelligence are discussed ...
... Robinson [22] also suggested that language played an important role in the thinking and reasoning process of agents which could possibly manipulate information stored in the memory and could think about the consequences of their actions before executing the strategies. Therefore, the prediction of future events and creation of better strategies can be done through the use of language which appears to be important in learning concepts and the abstraction of rules. ...
Traditional power systems employ centralized control techniques to manage the entire power network. In these networks, electric power flows from the utility grid to the load. With the deregulation and restructuring of the power industry coupled with increasing penetration of renewables and other traditional generators such as Distributed Generations (DGs) at the microgrid level, the way power flows within the network changes. This type of network is known as active networks because power can flow bi-directionally either from the utility grid to the microgrid or vice versa. As a result, centralized control may not be able to effectively manage the DGs at the microgrid level because it is cost inefficient and may prove challenging to control DGs in the microgrid. Therefore, another type of control known as decentralized or distributed control is proposed as an alternative to centralized control.
In this thesis, an energy management strategy of direct current microgrids (DC-MGs) is presented. The proposed MG consists of renewable energy sources, batteries, and supercapacitors, along with associated DC/DC and DC/AC converters. The energy source components are modeled and implemented using MATLAB/SIMULINK (power system library). Two energy management strategies are designed using proportional integral (PI) controllers and state machine control (SMC. The performance of the proposed energy management methods is analyzed.
Coordination between different sources of MG is implemented using a multi-agent system (MAS). Multi-agent algorithm is implemented using an open source agent building toolkit, Java Agent DEvelopment framework (JADE). The proposed energy management strategies are implemented using the JADE. Interface between MATLAB/SIMULINK and JADE is done with the help of the middle ware (MACSimJX). The proposed multi-agent framework is presented and the interface between the JADE and MATLAB/SIMULINK is described in details. Then, the design and implementation steps of the PI-controller and SMC using JADE are presented. Simulation work is carried out, and the results show that the proposed multi-agent system based controller effectively coordinated with variable loads in MG.
... The agent tasks are the main function that the agent must perform represented in the form of behaviors. include Java extension (MACSimJX) that was presented for the first time in [205] to be used for the Boeing aircraft data mining and fusion. The MACSimJX program contains two main parts: the AE (Agent Environment) and the ATF (Agent Task Force) as shown in Fig. 4.11. ...
... Generally, the MACSimJX is an open source program that has been utilized for many applications from the Boeing 747 data fusion and mining to the renewables (PV, wind) MAS based energy management systems [205], [33], [206]- [209]. The software getting started, and detailed description are provided in [210], [211]. ...
... 4.11. MACSim Complete Model[205]. ...
This thesis presents a unique model of the SGAM (Smart Grid Architecture Model) with considering the state of the art of the different research directions of the smart grid and. The hybrid marine-hydrogen active power generation system has been modeled to represent the component layer of the SGAM. The system integrates the MW scale PEM electrolyzer and fuel cell systems as the main energy balance components. The LiFePO4 battery is used to cover the fast dynamics of the electrical energy. Moreover, the thesis analyzes the centralized and the decentralized energy management system. The MAS (Multi-Agent Systems) represents the paradigm of the decentralized system. The JADE platform is used to develop the MAS due to its general domain of application, open source and free license software, interface with MATLAB and the computability with the FIPA (Foundation of Intelligent Physical Agent) standards. The JADE based energy management system balances the energy between the generation (marine-current energy conversion system) and the demand side (residential load profile) during the stand-alone and the grid-connected modes of operation. The proposed model of the SGAM can be considered as a pilot case study that enables the detailed analysis and the applications of the different smart grid research directions.
... Also, distributed control systems use specific real time networks and communication protocols that may introduce variable time delays and even data consistency problems which can lead in extreme cases to the instability of the system making fault control system mandatory. Even if multi-agent systems (MAS) were widely used to study distributed control and collaborative tasks for complex systems there is still the need for fault tolerance in order to increase dependability even in the presence of faults [3,4]. The research community proposed various algorithms and architectures for fault tolerant solutions. ...
Cyber-physical systems represent a new emerging field in automatic control. The fault system is a key component, because modern, large scale processes must meet high standards of performance, reliability and safety. Fault propagation in large scale chemical processes can lead to loss of production, energy, raw materials and even environmental hazard. The present paper develops a multi-agent fault-tolerant control architecture using robust fractional order controllers for a (¹³C) cryogenic separation column cascade. The JADE (Java Agent DEvelopment Framework) platform was used to implement the multi-agent fault tolerant control system while the operational model of the process was implemented in Matlab/SIMULINK environment. MACSimJX (Multiagent Control Using Simulink with Jade Extension) toolbox was used to link the control system and the process model. In order to verify the performance and to prove the feasibility of the proposed control architecture several fault simulation scenarios were performed.
... The communication between agents developed under Jade and S-functions causes instability, because of multi-threads of execution inside S-functions. MacsimJX is a multi-threaded program allowing liaising between a multithreaded environment like for example MAS and Sfunctions of Simulink, thanks to a separate program with protocols in place to ensure synchronicity [30]. It is very important to enable simulation and modeling of real-time distributed systems. ...
Old grids which are more dependent on centralized power stations had shown incapacity in term of integrating large amounts of geometrically dispersed consumers and energy resources such as renewable energy resources (RES), that require a scheduled control between the variable demand and intermittent sources. The bi-directional electricity networks that can greet and control more than individual grid or element, is a complex system that requires a real need for intelligent distributed energy management (DEM) to address challenges of integration of a huge number of types of energy resources with different sizes. This paper proposes a real-time distributed systems modeling and control such as photovoltaic (PV)-fuel cell (FC)-Electrolyser system by multi-agent system (MAS). The main consideration is to show a new approach, able to communicate multi-threaded environment like MAS inside S-function of Simulink. Contrarily to the studies available in the literature, this approach allows agents to decide and negotiate to achieve the energy management objectives, while all calculations required to control dynamic system with continuous functions are made in Simulink.
... The communication between the client and server is performed through pipe's in Windows. Later on Robinson created MACSimjx that is compatible with JADE platform [15]. MACSimjx and four JADE libraries are installed on JADE platform to facilitate creating agents classes and connecting them to the MACSim S-function on Simulink model [16]. ...
The objective of this paper is to describe the implementation of an innovative agent-based architecture of controllers for stand-alone DC microgrids. The controllers regulate voltage to the required level and balance load flow in all converters. In addition, they maintain a deterministic time frame of a few 10's of milliseconds for a system with 10's of converters when there is no limitation in the number of events which might happen concurrently. The paper proposes application of publish-subscribe agent-based controllers which are identified based on a numerical analysis as the most efficient technology for real-time coordination of power converters in the defined microgrid. To test the design , a sample DC shipboard microgrid including four converters was used as a case study. Results of implementing the agent-based publish-subscribe control system using Java Agent DEvelopment Framework (JADE) are illustrated in paper. The results show that the upper-time limit for task management is consistent and independent of the number of converters.
... In addition, JADE has been steadily gaining support and has been more widely used over the last few years. For these reasons, and with support from a review in [3], JADE was chosen to be the framework to assist agent modelling for Simulink through MACSim. ...
... A more advanced example of using MACSimJX may be found in [3], where a Boeing 747 is modelled in Simulink and data from its sensors are sent to agents for fusion where centralised and decentralised Kalman filters are tested. ...
MACSimJX provides the means for advanced modelling and development of multiagent driven control systems. This is achieved by drawing together two modelling tools used extensively in their respective communities. These are Simulink, a tool used for control systems development and JADE, an environment for developing agents. Thus the strengths of their particular domains of application may be drawn upon to facilitate research and development in the joint field of decentralised systems control. To the authors knowledge no other implementation such as this exists. MACSimJX, otherwise known as the extension of MACSim with JADE, is available for download at www.agentcontrol.co.uk.
This paper presents the decentralized JADE (Java Agent Development Environment)-based multi-agent system (MAS) oriented to the energy management and balance of the hybrid marine-hydrogen power generation system. The proposed hybrid marine-hydrogen system consists of a fixed-pitch direct drive tidal turbine, a megawatt (MW) scale proton exchange membrane electrolyzer, and fuel cell and a Li-ion battery stack. The different components are coupled together on a DC link via different topologies of power electronics converters for feeding a residential load as isolated system architecture. The MW scale electrolyzer and fuel cell systems represent the main elements of the hydrogen energy storage system. An isolated mode of operation is programmed to evaluate the MAS capability of energy management and balance considering the marine current intermittency and the demand-side variations. The proposed energy management system considers the safe operations of the electrolyzers, fuel cell, and battery by considering their constraints and dynamics.
