Knowledge and Computing: Computer Epistemology and Constructive Skepticism

Appendices

Appendices 1.1. Integrated Control of Vehicles and Traffic The motivations create a partly conflicting manifold of objectives. Fuel prices and therefore design principles of the engine, grip of the wheels, aerodynamic body can be typical. safety objectives add several further requirements for body structure, acceleration, and control and brake performance. social relations of the market define pricing, comfort, representation of status, and age. Professional, family and other lifestyle aims should be added to that. Protecting the environment is now a major point of view. Production technology, expected volumes, and interchangeable parts for different car classes, economy, and production control of mass issue should be harmonized with fast delivery of partly individual customer compliance. All these requirements are concentrated within the overall and local control systems of up-to-date vehicles. The example of these systems illustrates the complex nonlinear, stochastic control of steering, fuel (acceleration, deceleration, energy-storage regime) and brake, with suspension control of the car body. These continuous, mostly automatic control systems should realize a possibly ideal cooperation with the human driver, considering the different drivers’ various driving characteristics. The direct driving system is more and more combined with the smart knowledge-based systems of the vehicle and of the road system. This means inter alia knowledge about road signals, road information systems, aerodynamic and vehicle stability situations, related sensory hardware and algorithms, visual pattern-recognition and sensory road-quality identification with related control knowledge . The design optimizes all interactive and conflicting objectives of safety, economy, and speed. The knowledge base should be able to store and retrieve histories of experienced traffic situations. i3 Vámos.indb 151 2/5/10 4:11:12 PM 152 KNOWLEDGE AND COMPUTING The simplified model of suspension The driving mechanisms i3 Vámos.indb 152 2/5/10 4:11:12 PM 153 Appendices The brake-by-wire system The intelligent vision-driver assistance i3 Vámos.indb 153 2/5/10 4:11:12 PM 154 KNOWLEDGE AND COMPUTING This highly complex system requires a well-balanced design of the individual controls and of their harmonic, partly cooperative, partly hierarchically organized operation and measures for any possible deficiencies of the system. Practically all problems of human-machine individual and social control organizations, all their technical and social-philosophical aspects are concentrated within this task, used for an example of our specific subject. A few schemes illustrate some connections, the first about the simplified model of suspension, the second about the driving mechanisms, the third about the brake-bywire system, the fourth about the intelligent vision-driver assistance. 1.2. scheduling scheduling of complex production chains is an NP-hard task, and according to our knowledge, non-computable in polynomial time if we would consider all possible variations of the schedule. The figure is a nice sketch of all participants of the process. The chain can start with raw-material orders, and following their transport, the technological production (if all preliminary steps of technology such as design, machining etc. are given), scheduling of production machines and personnel, testing and warehousing, The brake-by-wire system Inbound Logistics Inventory Warehouse Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b or g) Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b or g) Shipping Yard PAN (RFid or Bluetooth) Transportation Companies Satellite for GPS Satellite for GPS WAN or Satellite Comm. WAN or Satellite Comm. Distributor Distribution Center Dealer (Retail Customer) Supplier (Raw Material) Plant Robot Worker PDA Small Sensors Network Machine Onboard Sensor AGV Main Server Outbound Logistics Plant i3 Vámos.indb 154 2/5/10 4:11:12 PM 155 Appendices packaging, and delivery to sales organizations. All these should be considered with related uncertainties and risks. The schedule should have short-range, long-range, and emergency perspectives. The entire chain is bound by telecommunication and transport links. The task is, consequently a game problem among diverse, unreliable , differently oriented agents, challenging the most advanced methods of game situation and bargaining models. A practical instance of the problem, which we solved at our institute , involves the following fixed parameters: The dimensions of a manufacturing part in a working system can be estimated by its currently available 145 machines, 764 job orders, within those 5,116 different jobs, all for the next week’s operative schedule. The program has to handle a lot of asymmetric information in the game, the manufacturer is well aware of their own resources, expenses , warehouses, and has very unreliable information about...