Redundancy Allocation Problem (RAP) is a well known mathematical problem for modeling series-parallel systems. It is a combinatorial optimization problem which focuses on determining an optimal assignment of components in a system design. Due to the diverse possible selection of components, the RAP is proved to be NP-hard. Therefore, many algorithms, especially heuristic algorithms were proposed and implemented in the past several decades, committed to provide innovative methods or better solutions. In recent years, multi-agent system (MAS) is proposed for modeling complex systems and solving large scale problems. It is a relatively new programming concept with the ability of self-organizing, self-adaptive, autonomous administrating, etc. These features of MAS inspire us to look at the RAP from another point of view. An RAP can be divided into multiple smaller problems that are solved by multiple agents. The agents can collaboratively solve optimal RAP solutions quickly and efficiently. In this research, we proposed to solve RAP using MAS. This novel approach, to the best of our knowledge, has not been proposed before, although multi-agent approaches have been widely used for solving other large and complex nonlinear problems. To demonstrate that, we analyzed and evaluated four benchmark RAP problems in the literature. From the results, the MAS approach is shown as an effective and extendable method for solving the RAP problems. / Electrical and Computer Engineering

Maintaining and operating manual main distribution frames is labour-intensive. As a result, Automated Main Distribution Frames (AMDFs) have been developed to alleviate the task of maintaining subscriber loops. Commercial AMDFs are currently employed in telephone exchanges in some parts of the world. However, the most significant factors limiting their widespread adoption are costeffective scalability and reliability. Therefore, an impelling incentive is provided to create a simulation framework in order to explore typical implementations and scenarios. Such a framework will allow the evaluation and optimisation of a design in terms of both internal and external redundancies. One of the approaches to improve system performance, such as system reliability, is to allocate the optimal redundancy to all or some components in a system. Redundancy at the system or component levels can be implemented in one of two schemes: parallel redundancy or standby redundancy. It is also possible to mix these schemes for various components. Moreover, the redundant elements may or may not be of the same type. If all the redundant elements are of different types, the redundancy optimisation model is implemented with component mixing. Conversely, if all the redundant components are identical, the model is implemented without component mixing. The developed framework can be used both to develop new AMDF architectures and to evaluate existing AMDF architectures in terms of expected lifetimes, reliability and service availability. Two simulation models are presented. The first simulation model is concerned with optimising central office equipment within a telephone exchange and entails an environment of clients utilising services. Currently, such a model does not exist. The second model is a mathematical model incorporating stochastic simulation and a hybrid intelligent evolutionary algorithm to solve redundancy allocation problems. For the first model, the optimal partitioning of the model is determined to speed up the simulation run efficiently. For the second model, the hybrid intelligent algorithm is used to solve the redundancy allocation problem under various constraints. Finally, a candidate concept design of an AMDF is presented and evaluated with both simulation models. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted