On the role of self-organisation as a model for networked systems

Abstract

In this paper, the role of the concept of self-organisation as a model in the analysis and design of advanced networked systems is investigated. In a first step, criteria for the definition of scientific models and their explanatory roles are introduced on the background of theories of models in the philosophy of science: intended scope, selection of the properties modelled, type of analogy, and levels of formalisation, abstraction and idealisation. In a second step, the applicability of these criteria to model-building in engineering is discussed, in order to assess some of the implications and limitations of modelling networked systems as self-organised systems, with particular attention to the role of the systems' environments in these models. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.