FRACTAL

Looking more like modern art than geometric shapes produced by mathematical algorithms, fractals are patterns in which similar repetitions exist at progressively smaller or larger scales. One could draw parallels between these and consciousness or cognition, which too emerges from different levels of organisation from subcellular to system level. In fact, fractals have numerous applications in natural and artificial systems. The value of complex fractal networks lies largely in the complexity they represent with unique simplicity, retaining the main features of the system via nodes and the interactions among them. The EU-funded FRACTAL project is developing a computing node on which to base a cognitive fractal network capable of learning from and responding to its environment. It will support seamless, fast and reliable interaction between the physical world and the cloud for applications ranging from self-driving cars to remote medical procedures.

The objective of this research activity is to create a reliable computing node that will create a Cognitive Edge under industry standards. This computing node will be the building block of scalable Internet of Things (from Low Computing to High Computing Edge Nodes). The cognitive skill will be given by an internal and external architecture that allows to forecast its internal performance and the state of the surrounding world. Hence, this node will have the capability of learning how to improve its performance against the uncertainty of the environment.

As a result of the integration of these cognitive systems into a fractal network, there will be another intrinsic crucial advantage, emergency and adaptability, new functions will flourish through the created space of possibilities of our cognitive Systems. This complex network will transfer all those cognitive advantages to the Edge, a computing paradigm that lay down between the physical world and the cloud.