Artificial Immune System in the context of Autonomic Computing: integrating design paradigms

We describe a framework for developing autonomic computing systems, based on an analogy with the natural immune system. A detailed comparison between the autonomic computing literature and the field of cognitive immune networks is drawn, particularly with respect to ensembles of components (in automomic computing) and ensembles of cells (in immune systems). We show how current approaches to designing autonomic systems could be enriched by considering alternative design processes based on cognitive immune networks