A Framework for the Development of Multiagent Architectures (original) (raw)

A scalable multiagent platform for large systems

Computer Science and Information Systems, 2013

A new generation of open and dynamic systems requires execution frameworks that are capable of being efficient and scalable when large populations of agents are launched. These frameworks must provide efficient support for systems of this kind, by means of an efficient messaging service, agent group management, security issues, etc. To cope with these requirements, in this paper, we present a novel Multiagent Platform that has been developed at the Operating System level. This feature provides high efficiency rates and scalability compared to other high-performance middleware-based Multiagent Platforms.

Infrastructures and tools for multiagent systems for the new generation of distributed systems

Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 2011

In order for multiagent systems to be included in real domains (media and Internet, logistics, e-commerce, and health care), infrastructures and tools for multiagent systems should provide efficiency, scalability, security, management, monitoring, and other features related to building real applications. Thus, infrastructures and tools that support multiagent systems are needed, especially those that promote the adoption of agent-based systems by designers and programmers in both academia and industry. This special issue is a selection of contributions whose preliminary versions were presented at the ITMAS Nowadays, technological evolution in the areas of Computer Technology and Communications (Internet, WWW, e-commerce, wireless connectivity, virtual worlds, etc.) has made Information Technology research and development focus on solving challenges in order to develop distributed applications. Distributed systems are increasingly viewed as collections of service-provider and service-consumer components that are interlinked by dynamically defined workflows.

Multi-agent systems in distributed communication environments

Proceedings of the 5th WSEAS international …, 2006

Abstract: Agents are autonomous and flexible systems situated in an environment where agents act accordingly for achieving their objectives. Composed of several interacting agents, multi-agent systems offer promising engineering solutions for developing robust and scalable systems. A review of agents, multi-agent systems and ontologies is presented. A multi-agent architecture addressing virtual collaboration in a distributed environment is proposed and its potential for communication support, resource interoperation and ...

Agent Infrastructure for Distributed Control and Interoperability

… Intelligence and Its …, 2006

We are interested in providing an agent infrastructure for truly distributed control. Requirements include multiple language implementations so that this agent host environment can exist in both real-time controllers and Java-based devices, and the ability to operate with external agent systems. Our first infrastructure, the Autonomous Cooperative System (ACS), accomplished these goals, but presented other issues. Although ACS has been successfully deployed on commercial controllers, new releases of controllers will cause complications in the evolution of the software and adoption of future functionality. We need to establish a formal integration procedure of the agent functionality with the controllers and to transform the underlying system into a fully integrated and open heterogeneous system. This challenge implies changes to the controllers for the creation of the agents and changes that would radically affect the agent core. In this document, we discuss the requirements and results of that transformation.

A Programming and Execution Environment for Distributed Multi Agent Systems

… of Workshop on …, 2000

Before the powerful agent programming paradigm can be adopted in commercial or industrial settings, a complete environment, similar to that for other programming languages must be developed. This includes, editors, libraries, and an environment for the completion of agent tasks. The DECAF[8] Agent architecture is a general purpose agent development platform that was designed specifically to support concurrency, distributed operations, support for high level programming paradigms and high throughput. The architecture has been designed with built-in scalability which adapts itself to multiple processor architecture and highly distributed multiagent systems. DECAF supports research efforts in planning and scheduling with modular design. The architecture also supports application development and has current developments in social modeling, middle agents, information extraction and proxy operations. DECAF also supports the next step in the progression of the programming paradigm by allowing "flexible" and "structured persistent" actions . This paper is a case study of the development of the DECAF architecture, tools that have been developed concurrently to support programming and testing, and some of the more significant applications designed using DECAF.

A Communication Model for Distributed Agents

… in computer and information sciences' 98: …, 1998

Effective co-operation among agents requires a common communication language. In the past, research on software agents concentrated on agent architectures, problem-specific agent types, and general agent properties. Since, research on agent co-operation was problem-oriented or domainspecific, there is still a wide gap between the various existing software agent models. The lack of communication standards prevents from effective agent co-operation. In this work we present the first results of an ongoing research that aimed at defining a formal language for agent communication and experimenting with it in a prototype, with the goal to identify general properties of an agent communication language. These properties than can serve as a basis for related standards. We present our work first by discussing the status quo of software agents in short and by referring to related technologies, such as distributed objects. Thereafter, general agent architecture, agent properties, common agent types, and agent communication languages are analysed. We introduce the agent communication language AgentCom and present its experimental utilisation in the prototype CourseMan, which is responsible for managing courses in a distributed environment. Through learning by observation of sample transactions, we present how the language semantics of AgentCom can be improved in CourseMan. Finally, general properties of agent communication languages and distributed objects are compared with each other. * This paper was published at ISCIS'98.

A Framework for Developing Agent-Based Distributed Applications

2010 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, 2010

The development of large-scale distributed multiagent systems in open dynamic environments is a challenge. System behavior is often not predictable and can only be evaluated by execution. This paper proposes a framework to support design and development of such systems: a framework in which both simulation and emulation play an important role. A distributed agent platform (AgentScape) is used to illustrate the potential of the framework.

Multi-agent platforms and asynchronous message passing: Frameworks overview

2010

In this article we review contemporary multi-agent system architectures and implementations. We particularly focus on asynchronous message passing mechanisms. Our motivation is to explore two main areas in the context of multi-agent systems: the concept of micro-agents and the asynchronous message passing architectures. In the article we take a close look at the emerging area of micro-agent-based systems and contrast them with selected representatives from the general field of agent architectures.

Specifying protocols for multi-agent systems interaction

ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems, 2007

Multi-Agent-Systems or MAS represent a powerful distributed computing model, enabling agents to cooperate and complete with each other and to exchange both semantic content and a semantic context to more automatically and accurately interpret the content. Many types of individual agent and MAS models have been proposed since the mid-1980s, but the majority of these have led to single developer homogeneous MAS systems. For over a decade, the FIPA standards activity has worked to produce public MAS specifications, acting as a key enabler to support interoperability, open service interaction, and to support heterogeneous development. The main characteristics of the FIPA model for MAS and an analysis of design, design choices and features of the model is presented. In addition, a comparison of the FIPA model for system interoperability versus those of other standards bodies is presented, along with a discussion of the current status of FIPA and future directions.