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Agent-based Programming: “Agents” are software modules designed to provide particular capabilities. Rather than rely on monolithic control systems, the agent-based approach relies on a distributed “intelligence” spread throughout the interaction of many (tens, hundreds, or even thousands) of agents in a network. Each agent is designed to generate and execute adaptive behavior in light of its assigned task and the given protocol. Agents can share knowledge, coordinate behavior with other agents, compete for the right to take on responsibilities in a manner similar to operating in an economic market, and even evolve optimal behavior in competition with other agents.
Algorithm: A procedure or set of instructions for solving a problem, often in the form of a computer program.
Autonomy: Being self-directed and self-controlled. When applied to UAVs (see below), autonomous programs are able to perform decision-making without a human operator.
Bioinformatics: The analysis and management of biological data. It includes the analysis of DNA and RNA, genes, and proteins.
C4ISR: A military acronym for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconaissance.
Cheminformatics: The analysis and management of chemical data. It includes the analysis of chemical structures, and is often used for pharmaceutical discovery purposes.
Class Discovery and Prediction: The use of a pattern recognition algorithm for forecasting and detection. Class prediction can be used for many types of forecasting and detection, including financials, weather, gene expression, and threats, among many others.
Computational Intelligence: Machine programming techniques including evolutionary computation, fuzzy computation, and neural nets, sometimes called soft computing. It is sometimes referred to as “artificial intelligence,” a misnomer. Artificial intelligence usually relies on expert systems, which are rules and procedures written by humans into computer code. AI systems are therefore top-down, and are incapable of producing knowledge outside of the limits of the knowledge of the human programmers. Computational intelligence systems, in contrast, are structured bottom-up, do not rely on expert systems, and are consequently capable of discovering novel solutions. Computational intelligence systems truly “think outside the box.”