Swarm Intelligence: Introduction and Applications (Natural Computing Series) [Hardcover]

Christian Blum (Editor), Daniel Merkle (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Natural Computing Series | Publication Date: November 17, 2008

The book’s contributing authors are among the top researchers in swarm intelligence. The book is intended to provide an overview of the subject to novices, and to offer researchers an update on interesting recent developments. Introductory chapters deal with the biological foundations, optimization, swarm robotics, and applications in new-generation telecommunication networks, while the second part contains chapters on more specific topics of swarm intelligence research.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews: "This book, edited by Christian Blum and Daniel Merkle, gives us the state of the art in this new and intriguing field of research, through a collection of eight chapters written by leading experts in the field. … Overall, this book is successful in presenting how naturally inspired design differs from traditional approaches … . an interesting read for researchers, to learn the latest developments in this fascinating field, and also for beginners, to get an introduction to swarm intelligence topics and applications." (Alessandro Berni, ACM Computing Reviews, June, 2009)

From the Back Cover

The laws that govern the collective behavior of social insects, flocks of birds, or fish schools continue to mesmerize researchers. While individuals are rather unsophisticated, in cooperation they can solve complex tasks, a prime example being the ability of ant colonies to find shortest paths between their nests and food sources. Task-solving results from self-organization, which often evolves from simple means of communication, either directly or indirectly via changing the environment, the latter referred to as stigmergy. Scientists have applied these principles in new approaches, for example to optimization and the control of robots. Characteristics of the resulting systems include robustness and flexibility. This field of research is now referred to as swarm intelligence. The contributing authors are among the top researchers in their domain. The book is intended to provide an overview of swarm intelligence to novices, and to offer researchers in the field an update on interesting recent developments. Introductory chapters deal with the biological foundations, optimization, swarm robotics, and applications in new-generation telecommunication networks, while the second part contains chapters on more specific topics of swarm intelligence research such as the evolution of robot behavior, the use of particle swarms for dynamic optimization, and organic computing.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (November 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3540740880
• ISBN-13: 978-3540740889
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,452,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Multi-rabbit chase, May 7, 2011

By 

Dimitri Shvorob - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Swarm Intelligence: Introduction and Applications (Natural Computing Series) (Hardcover)

This collection of academic papers maintains the high standards I expect from Springer, but leaves a disjointed feel. Referring to the table of contents, there are eight papers, divided between "Introduction" (half of the book) and "Applications". The four papers in Part 1 are nice, extensive surveys. Two of these, (3-4), are sufficiently specific to suggest relabeling to "Applications", leaving only two papers of broad interest. If I were a Springer marketer, I might wonder whether specialists doing research in the subjects of (3-8) would need the book, to complement the sources they already have. I myself came to it with an interest in optimization, and (a) found (2) to be a nice survey of ACO and PSO - but, again, a survey, so I would need to go to the referenced papers to see the implementation - but (b) discovered that "dynamic optimization" in (6) was not what's usually meant by the term.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars better routing protocols ?!, June 5, 2009

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Swarm Intelligence: Introduction and Applications (Natural Computing Series) (Hardcover)

You might perhaps regard this as another in Springer's extensive list of texts on robotics. Some of the book describes the biological underpinnings; the swarms that exist in nature. But the bulk relates to various implementations in robotics.

There is modelling and analysis of different swarm robotic systems. Where there is often custom hardware.

In a different light, one chapter looks at not robots, but purely computers; ie. the computers are without custom mechanical fittings that are typical of robots. Instead, routing protocols are conjectured, inspired by group behaviours found in some social insect societies like ants and bees. This is perhaps [at least to me] the most imaginative of the chapters. Those authors really did a marked conceptual shift from one context to another. Good for them!