PERPLEXUS: Pervasive Computing Framework for Modeling Complex Virtually-Unbounded Systems Eduardo Sanchez, Andres Perez-Uribe, Andres Upegui, Yann Thoma HEIG-VD, Switzerland (eduardo.sanchez, andres.perez-uribe, andres.upegui, yann.thoma)@heig-vd.ch Juan Manuel Moreno UPC, Spain moreno@eel.upc.edu Alessandro Villa UJF, France avilla@neuroheuristic.org Henri Volken UNIL, Switzerland henri.volken@unil.ch Andrzej Napieralski TUL, Poland napier@dmcs.p.lodz.pl Gilles Sassatelli CNRS, France sassatelli@lirmm.fr Erwan Lavarec Wany Robotics, France lavarec@wanyrobotics.com Abstract This paper introduces Perplexus, a European project that aims to develop a scalable hardware platform made of custom reconfigurable devices endowed with bio-inspired capabilities. This platform will enable the simulation of large-scale complex systems and the study of emergent com- plex behaviors in a virtually unbounded wireless network of computing modules. The final infrastructure will be used as a simulation tool for three applications: neurobiological modeling, culture dissemination modeling, and cooperative collective robotics. The Perplexus platform will provide a novel modeling framework thanks to the pervasive nature of the hardware platform, its bio-inspired capabilities, its strong interaction with the environment, and its dynamic topology. 1. Introduction The Perplexus project aims to develop a scalable hard- ware platform made of custom reconfigurable devices en- dowed with bio-inspired capabilities that will enable the simulation of large-scale complex systems [4] and the study of emergent complex behaviors in a virtually unbounded wireless network of computing modules. At the heart of these ubiquitous computing modules (ubidules), we will use a custom reconfigurable electronic device capable of imple- menting bio-inspired mechanisms such as growth, learning, and evolution. This ubidule bio-inspired chip (ubichip) [11] will be associated to rich sensory elements and wireless communication capabilities. Such an infrastructure will provide several advantages compared to classical software simulations: speed-up, an inherent real-time interaction with the environment, self-organization capabilities, simu- lation in the presence of uncertainty, and distributed multi- scale simulations. The strong interaction between our hardware infrastruc- ture and the real environment circumvent the need to simu- late the environment and ease the occurrence of unexpected emergent phenomena. The observation of such emergent phenomena will be now facilitated by the shorter simula- tion time, brought by the hardware speed-up. One of the major difficulties of a complex system simu- lation is to define the structural organization of the modules composing the model [4]. The self-organization and bio- inspired capabilities of our platform will bring an innova- tive solution to this problem: an evolving and hierarchical structure. The function of each ubidule can be dynamically and autonomously determined by the simulation itself: it can be an independent agent or a part of a larger entity. We have identified three domains where our model- ing infrastructure will prove its usefulness as a powerful and innovative simulation tool: neurobiological modeling, culture dissemination modeling, and cooperative collective robotics. We will perform qualitative and quantitative com- parisons between classical implementations of these three modeling applications and their implementation running on a network of ubidules. For doing so, we envision three strategic aspects to be addressed: (1) Design and development of the hardware platform. It will consist of a set of ubidules that will support the simu- lation of our complex systems. (2) Simulation of complex phenomena in the domains Second NASA/ESA Conference on Adaptive Hardware and Systems(AHS 2007) 0-7695-2866-X/07 $25.00 © 2007