Artificial Dendritic Cells: Multi-faceted Perspectives

TL;DR

This paper explores the immune system-inspired Dendritic Cell Algorithm, highlighting its multi-resolution information processing and its basis in immunological research, to advance artificial immune system design.

Contribution

It introduces a novel bio-inspired algorithm based on dendritic cell functions, emphasizing multi-faceted information processing and parallels with human immunology.

Findings

The Dendritic Cell Algorithm processes information at multiple levels.

It creates variable-structure information granules.

The algorithm is inspired by immune system mechanisms.

Abstract

Dendritic cells are the crime scene investigators of the human immune system. Their function is to correlate potentially anomalous invading entities with observed damage to the body. The detection of such invaders by dendritic cells results in the activation of the adaptive immune system, eventually leading to the removal of the invader from the host body. This mechanism has provided inspiration for the development of a novel bio-inspired algorithm, the Dendritic Cell Algorithm. This algorithm processes information at multiple levels of resolution, resulting in the creation of information granules of variable structure. In this chapter we examine the multi-faceted nature of immunology and how research in this field has shaped the function of the resulting Dendritic Cell Algorithm. A brief overview of the algorithm is given in combination with the details of the processes used for its development. The chapter is concluded with a discussion of the parallels between our understanding of the human immune system and how such knowledge influences the design of artificial immune systems.