5. CONCLUSION
Very little theory exists for swarm-based systems. No robust systems should be deployed before we understand fundamental properties of stigmergic systems.First, sensor network simulation tools need to be constructed; theoretical analysis should occur in parallel possibly providing bounds on performance when analytical closed-form solutions can not be easily obtained. The existing body of sensor network routing algorithms are either incompletely specified or analyzed; considerable work remains to be done. Scenario generators should be built in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the sensor network – the environment – in conjunction with agents whose behaviour is stigmergically-driven. In order to achieve this, an extensible,reusable agent framework should be developed that captures the patterns documented
in this report, suitably augmented with existing intelligent agent algorithms for military applications. Research into the problem of combining stigmergic signals –sensor fusion – also needs to be conducted. Furthermore, other stigmergic patterns should be captured and added as research in theoretical biology provides insight into other social insect behaviours.Second, technologies for wide-spread cost-effective sensor networks need to be developed.Third, intelligent materials research needs to be undertaken. Sensors woven into the fabric of clothing are relevant here. Also the work on Amorphous Computing may be of interest as it provides the potential for materials capable of self repair. Selfrepairing materials have obvious applications in the autonomous repair of unmanned autonomous vehicles, for example.
Finally, research into reconfigurable and self-reproducing robots should be supported.The goal should be to understand, fabricate and deploy modules in the battlefield setting that can be used as building blocks for the repair and reproduction of unmanned autonomous vehicles in situation. Owing to the importance of sensor networks in the battlefield of the future, an in depth review of routing algorithms for ad hoc networks has been provided. Swarm Bots project shows significant promise for the engineering of future robot swarms.