Abstract
We present an algorithm for optimal control problems producing a minimizing sequence of control processes which are solutions to the associated differential inclusion and that the limiting process satisfies necessary conditions of optimality of the Pontryagin type. Numerical experiments show a good robustness to control perturbations and a good precision near the optimal solution.

Abstract
This paper presents a dynamically configurable architecture for the control of autonomous mobile robots based on hierarchic structure whose three levels, organization, coordination and functional layer, are organized linguistically. The main contribution is the concept of dynamic reconfigurability where the notion of architecture coordinator plays a crucial role. The design of the functional layer establishes the primitives for dynamic configuration.

Abstract
Three classes of oceanographic addressing relevant distinct scientific and applied objectives in the Portuguese coastal waters are examined. Then, by assuming some mission organizations in the light of the current technological state-of-art, a set of functionalities required for an operational system are extracted. Finally, some requirements for the design and development of such a class of systems are discussed.

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract
Multi-agent architectures are well suited for complex inherently distributed problem solving domains. From the many challenging aspects that arise within this framework, a crucial one emerges: how to incorporate dynamic and conflicting agent beliefs? While the belief revision activity in a single agent scenario is concentrated on incorporating new information while preserving consistency, in a multi-agent system it also has to deal with possible conflicts between the agents perspectives. To provide an adequate framework, each agent, built as a combination of an assumption based belief revision system and a cooperation layer, was enriched with additional features: a distributed search control mechanism allowing dynamic context management, and a set of different distributed consistency methodologies. As a result, a Distributed Belief Revision Testbed (DiBeRT) was developed. This paper is a preliminary report presenting some of DiBeRT contributions: a concise representation of external beliefs; a simple and innovative methodology to achieve distributed context management; and a reduced inter-agent data exchange format. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1996.