DSTO CSRG 2009-03
From COSNet
Hi All,
I am pleased to announce that this week's reading group will be led by Shane Magrath who will be presenting some of his work in progress!
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Abstract
It is well known that computer networks, such as the Internet, are a complex mix of difficult technologies to understand. Even more difficult is the level of technical skills required of engineers to administer and maintain them. What is also apparent is that the difficulty in managing these networks will significantly increase when network services become genuinely ubiquitous, mobile and context aware - the "omega point" of communications engineering.
The assumption to my research is that at some time in the possibly near future, the configuration complexity of our networks will be genuinely comparable to biological systems. The implication of this is profound for network management - in the same way that biological systems have no central controller, it will not be possible nor desirable for system administrators to be involved in the configuration of every device or service in the network. Therefore, if the computer networks are to truly become pervasive, we need new and innovative network management approaches which are patterned on proven massive-scale, well regulated systems - namely those of interest in Complex Adaptive System studies.
This presentation will look at a number of ideas and experiments that attempt to throw some light on how networks might be made to be "autonomic" in environments that are hostile and highly dynamic. By way of an illustrative experiment, we will look at the concept of how network configurations might be developed through evolutionary processes and how this might result in networks which can be grown from virtual "stem-cells" - an approach which I have taken to calling Morphogenic Systems Engineering. We will then look at a specific application to network IP addressing - an essential network configuration problem in network management. We will see that a bio-mimetic approach patterned on the nesting behaviours of the common paper wasp (Polistes Dominulus), a social insect, can potentially be adapted to solve this problem in environments that are highly dynamic and hostile. Finally, some general findings and open issues/questions will be identified and hopefully a lively general discussion will be had amongst the group.
Biography
Shane Magrath received a B.E degree from the University of New South in 1990 and the a Ph.D degree from the University of Technology, Sydney in 2006. He is currently a researcher in the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation, in South Australia. His interests are in network management in general and more specifically, how networks can be made to be self-configuring.
Prior to completing the Ph.D, Dr Magrath had fifteen years experience in the ICT industry. He variously worked in network planning, design and construction of telecommunications networks. In 1998, Dr Magrath worked as a senior network designer for a IT outsourcing company where he worked in many projects involving WAN Technologies, LAN switching, IP, SNA, and Network Management in the banking and finance industry. Later as a Solutions Architect, he worked on both pre-sales and post-sales projects in the banking and aviation industry.
Shane is married, has three children and lives in the Adelaide Hills. For amusement, he restores vintage radios and creates various Australian timber craft objects. He is also an amateur HF radio operator who is currently very despondent with the state of the current propagation which is at the bottom of the current eleven year solar cycle.
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The reading group will be on Thursday 12th February in Building 75L, Conference room 23 from 2:00 to 3:00pm
Note that the Reading Group will be in Building 75 not 81!
Please forward this email on to those you think may be interested. External visitors wishing to attend must RSVP so that security passes can be arranged.
Hope to see you all there, and as always if you have something you would like to present to the reading group, or have found an interesting paper to discuss feel free to contact me and suggest it for a future reading group.
Regards,
Vanja Radenovic.
