We propose a framework for engineering emergent behaviour that allows system specification and design at the level of the emergence. We discuss how rule migration can be used to translate this high-level multi-layer design (mobile process model) into an equivalent simple cellular automaton model with only local rules, and emergent behaviour. In this paper, we use a case study in 2D to illustrate the process involved in deriving a migration rule for a simple random walk. We discuss how the mobile process architecture may be extended to model systems with multiple levels of emergence.
full paper : PDF 2123K | [ a revised and extended version of the ECAL Unconventional Computing workshop paper ]
@article(SS-IJUC-07, author = "Heather Turner and Susan Stepney and Fiona Polack", title = "Rule Migration: Exploring a design framework for emergence", journal = "International Journal of Unconventional Computing", volume = 3, number = 1, pages = "49--66", year = 2007 )