QUANTICOL - A Quantitative Approach to Management and Design of Collective and Adaptive Behaviours

The problem: The design of collective adaptive systems (CAS) must be supported by a powerful well-founded framework for modelling and analysis. CAS consist of a large number of heterogeneous entities with decentralised control and varying degrees of complex autonomous behaviour. These entities may be competing for shared resources even when collaborating to reach common goals. The pervasive but transparent nature of CAS, together with the importance of the societal goals they address, mean that it is imperative that thorough a priori analysis and verification of their design is carried out to investigate all aspects of their behaviour before they are put into operation.