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You are here: FPAS -> DMCS -> Research
 
 
 
heading image: Mathematics and Computer Science Research
COMPUTER SCIENCE:
Amorphous Computing, Software Engineering
MATHEMATICS:
  
Supervisor: DR. DANIEL COORE
Students: Ricardo Anderson, Jamala Bryan, John Muirhead, Richard Lawson, Howard Nation, Vernon Rowe, Daryl Strachan
     
OVERVIEW
  
WORK IN PROGRESS
A colony of cells, sharing a common genetic code, self-organises to produce an organism. Amorphous Computing seeks to understand the organisational principles behind such phenomena by studying methods for programming computational models of such systems.
   GPL: A language for specifying patterns. Programs are written in terms of "growing points" that can move across the substrate of particles, depositing material which we view as a pattern.
  image: Evolution of a GPL program
  image: up arrow The evolution of a GPL program producing the pattern at the far left. This pattern represents a CMOS layout of an inverter, one of the most primitive circuit elements of digital logic.
 
AIM
To be able to configure (program) complex systems of locally interacting elements to achieve a prespecified emergent behaviour.		            
           
  ECOLI: A language for specifying interactions. Programs are written in terms of responses to events (messages and inputs). A response on one particle triggers an event on its neighbours, and they respond in turn. Programs at this level try to control explosion events.
 
  image: image: Evolution of the program
MODEL  
Particles are irregularly located in space. They do not know their own coordinates. image: Particle distribution  
  image: up arrow Each processor runs the same program. In this program, one processor triggers its neighbor to send a value in its message that is one higher than that received. The intended result is that processors label themselves with the hop-count distance from the initiating processor. image: up arrow The evolution of the program above. Source points randomly select themselves to initiate the first set of messages. Each colour in the images represents a different distance.
 
 
 
         
Particles communicate by broadcasting over a fixed range.     image: Particle communication      
  Simulations of physical systems enable us to explore our ideas realistically. Amorphous Computers might be realised in many ways, e.g: silicon based chips, bacteria, nano-machines, or software agents acting in a virtual system. The low level details of each of these systems requires a different implementation. We strive to design flexible and powerful Amorphous Computing simulators without sacrificing performance.
 
 
Particles have small memories and simple processing power.  
image: Diagram of a proposed protocol for inter-particle communication
image: Screen shot of ECOLI-interpreting simulator
 
Particles receive input by sensing their environment.  
 
All particles run the same program. Behavioural differentiation arises from sensor changes and inter-particle communication.    
 
  image: up arrow A diagram of a proposed protocol for inter-particle communication. This protocol can be embedded into the ECOLI-interpreting simulator.
   
Particles run asynchronously, but with comparable speeds.      image: up arrow A screen shot of ECOLI-interpreting simulator, developed in Summer 2001
     
         
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS          
"Smart" Structures, e.g.     Manipulating micro-organisms   Providing Models for:
  • stronger bridges
  • active aeroplane wings
  • ergonomically sensitive furniture
  • roads that report traffic loads
  
  • make molecular-scale electronic circuits
  • tag diseased cells
  • dispense drugs to localised sites
  • provide data storage
  
  • low cost supercomputing
  • large-scale resource management

 
PROJECTS        

Supervisor: DR. EZRA MUGISA
Students: Carl Beckford, Phillipa Bennett, Errol Dennis, Christopher Green, Pushpa Janagaraja, Richard Pyne
               
COMPONENT BASED SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (CBSE)        
CBSE is a sub-discipline of software engineering (SE). It shares some of the same strengths and weakness of the discipline of software engineering. One major problem in software engineering is that it is currently an unregulated discipline that is trying to mature into professional status to be like its more mature engineering cousins. CBSE is rooted in reusability, a concept that is relatively new to SE but is well known in mature engineering disciplines.
               
CBSE is primarily concerned with three functions:
  • Developing software from pre-produced parts
  • The ability to resue those parts in other applications
  • Easily maintaining and customising those parts to produce new functions and features
These functions are to be found in mature engineering disciplines, where components (or parts) may be bought and sold on the open market.
               
THE MORRESA PROJECT        
The MORRESSA project is the major project our group has undertaken. MORRESA stands for Mona Repository of Reusable Software Assets. Under this project we are building a repository of reusable software assets for software development with reuse. We have the following sub-projects:
  • The Software Supermarket (SoS): Here we formerly specify and design a software repository. We investigate various issues associated specifically with heterogeneous repositories that accommodate multi-type components. We are also interested in an environment that will support the SoS.
  • Reusable Software architecture (RSA) for an accounting information system: We define a reusable software architecture. RSAs are components that will be used to populate the repository.
  • Bridging the gap between UML designs and formal specifications.
  • A Generic Business Transaction System: Here we are looking at investigating a reform of the lifecycle of business transaction systems through application reuse and metamorphosis.

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