Trend of autonomous decentralized systems

Markets and the technologies have been rapidly changing and advancing. User requirements have been diversified and unpredictable. Under these evolving situations, an autonomous decentralized system (ADS) was proposed for resolving the on-line property to achieve step-by-step expansion, maintenance/test and fault-propagation prevention without stopping the entire system. Research and development has been accelerated in the world not only for control systems but also for wide-area information systems. In China, ADS activities are especially promoted in railway systems. Here as examples, a railway ground-control system and a train on-board-control system, where each of the railway stations and trains has autonomy to regulate the trains through coordinating mutually, are shown to be electively operated.