D.J. Jefferies and J.H.B. Deane
School of Electronic Engineering,
Information Technology, and Mathematics
University of Surrey
Guildford GU2 5XH
UK
d.jefferies@ee.surrey.ac.uk
http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/D.Jefferies/
Examples, taken from electronic systems which are engineered to display bursty or intermittent behaviour, and from traffic transfer protocols on networks, and from radio-wave propagation in mobile communication channels, are used to illustrate some irregular dynamics of complex systems. The simple electronic systems provide insight for the cases where similar behaviour of a time series is observed in complex systems found in biological and economic fields. The possibility of adaptive and emergent behaviour in electronic ``variable structure systems" is considered, and the similarity of the electronic ``controlled switch" to the biological ``selection mechanism" is highlighted. Applications to the deliberate engineering for emergent behaviour in computer operating systems not requiring human intervention are considered.