Determining the Communication Load for Self-Building Embedded Systems Based on Artificial DNA

Embedded systems are growing more and more complex because of the increasing chip integration density, larger number of chips in distributed applications and demanding application fields (e.g. in cars and in households). Bio-inspired techniques like self-organization are a key feature to handle this complexity. The self-organization process needs a guideline for setting up and managing the system. In biology the structure and organization of a system is coded in its DNA. This concept can be adapted to embedded systems. Since many embedded systems can be composed from a limited number of basic elements, the structure and parameters of such systems can be stored in a compact way representing an artificial DNA deposited in each processor core. Based on the DNA, the self-organization mechanisms can build the system autonomously providing a self-building system. System repair and optimization at runtime are also possible, leading to higher robustness, dependability and flexibility. However, these properties introduce a certain amount of communication load. In this paper we determine the communication load and conduct an evaluation using a flexible DNA-controlled robot vehicle.