The biological basis of the immune system as a model for intelligent agents

Abstract. This paper describes the human immune system and its functionalities from a computational viewpoint. The objective of this paper is to provide the biological basis for an artificial immune system. This paper will also serve to illustrate how a biological system can be studied and how inferences can be drawn from its operation that can be exploited in intelligent agents. Functionalities of the biological immune system (e.g., content addressable memory, adaptation, etc.) are identified for use in intelligent agents. Specifically, in this paper, an intelligent agent will be described for task allocation in a heterogeneous computing environment. This research is not intended to develop an explicit model of the human immune system, but to exploit some of its functionalities in designing agent-based parallel and distributed control systems.