An Extensible Architecture for Homeostasis in Electronic Systems

This project is concerned with the development of more 'intelligent' electronic systems, to help improve their stability during operation. It is the case that any electronic system is vulnerable to problems that will effect its performance. Such problems may be changes in environmental factors, or faults occurring within the device itself. Therefore, many electronic systems would benefit from the inclusion of self-regulatorymechanisms to be able to cope with such problems. Imagine an engineered system that can `predict', or be aware of, imminent threats upon its specified operation. Then, based on this prediction,the system can alter its operation or configuration to circumvent the effectsof the threat. There exist biological systems that perform an equivalent featof self-regulation; a mammal for example can cope very well with a certainlevel of damage being inflicted upon it, and still continue its operation. Howis this possible? This project presents a way forward in electronic engineeringwhich represents an opportunity for engineered systems to break new ground ingenerating adaptive, autonomous and crucially; self-regulating behaviour.The focus of the research is on one of the most impressive abilities of livingorganisms: their ability to ensure a reasonably stable internal state despitewildly changing external environmental factors. This property, often termedhomeostasis, is a major contributor to an organism's autonomy and we feelfuture engineered systems.