Self-Organization and Resilience for Networked Systems: Design Principles and Open Research Issues

Networked systems form the backbone of modern society, underpinning critical infrastructures such as electricity, water, transport and commerce, and other essential services (e.g., information, entertainment, and social networks). It is almost inconceivable to contemplate a future without even more dependence on them. Indeed, any unavailability of such critical systems is—even for short periods—a rather bleak prospect. However, due to their increasing size and complexity, they also require some means of autonomic formation and self-organization. This paper identifies the design principles and open research issues in the twin fields of self-organization and resilience for networked systems. In combination, they offer the prospect of combating threats and allowing essential services that run on networked systems to continue operating satisfactorily. This will be achieved, on the one hand, through the (self-)adaptation of networked systems and, on the other hand, through structural and operational resilience techniques to ensure that they can detect, defend against, and ultimately withstand challenges.