Graph-transformational swarms with stationary members

Abstract

The concept of graph-transformational swarms is a novel approach that offers a rule-based framework to model discrete swarm methods. This paper continues the research on graph-transformational swarms by focusing on a special type of members called stationary members. The stationary members are assigned to particular subgraphs of the considered environment graphs. Every stationary member is responsible for calculations and transformations at the assigned area, and the applicability of the member’s rules depends only on this area and not on the whole environment. A further advantage of stationary members is that it is easier to guarantee that they can act in parallel than for moving members. Cloud computing is an engineering topic where swarms with stationary members can be applied in an adequate way, namely, by modeling the nodes of the server network that forms the cloud as stationary members. We illustrate the proposed concept by means of a case study.