Autonomous network, controller and method

An autonomous network, comprising:

• a plurality of controllers interconnected into a system hierarchy graph, each of the plurality of controllers comprising:
• at least one memory containing a plurality of composable and replaceable modules, and
• at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to execute the plurality of modules in an interconnected manner in accordance with a controller graph to, based on sensor data about at least one controlled element under control of said each controller, carry out an action with respect to the at least one controlled element,
• wherein
• the plurality of controllers comprises
• at least one operation controller (OC) configured to carry out the action by causing a change in an operation of the at least one controlled element, and
• at least one evolution controller (EC) configured to carry out the action by causing a change in a configuration of the at least one controlled element and
• the at least one controlled element under control of the at least one OC comprises at least one of:
• another OC under the at least one OC in the system hierarchy graph, or hardware equipment,
• the at least one controlled element under control of the at least one EC comprises at least one of:
• another controller under the at least one EC in the system hierarchy graph, or hardware equipment.

A method of operating an autonomous network,

• the network comprising a plurality of controllers interconnected into a system hierarchy graph, each of the plurality of controllers being an operation controller (OC) or an evolution controller (EC) and comprising:
• at least one memory containing a plurality of composable and replaceable modules, and
• at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to execute the plurality of modules in an interconnected manner,
• the method comprising:
• controlling, by an OC, hardware equipment or another OC below in the system hierarchy graph;
• controlling and evolving, by an EC, an existing controller below in the system hierarchy graph, wherein said evolving comprises:
• identifying a number of composable and replaceable candidate modules which are composable to complete a section of a controller graph,
• determining a plurality of different compositions in each of which various candidate modules are interconnected to complete the section of the controller graph, and
• outputting a plurality of evolved controllers each corresponding to one of the plurality of compositions;
• and
• performing, by an experimentation manager, an online experimentation to determine whether said existing controller is replaceable by any of the plurality of evolved controllers.