Evaluating the FIPA Standards and Its Role in Achieving Cooperation in Multi-Agent Systems (original) (raw)

Evaluating the FIPA standards and their role in achieving cooperation in multi-agent systems

2000

Focuses on the analysis and evaluation of certain aspects of the current specification standards provided by FIPA (Foundation of Intelligent Physical Agents). The work reported in this paper is based on the development of a multi-agent application-an audio-visual entertainment broadcasting (AVEB) system. This has resulted in determining the advantages and limitations of using the FIPA standards to build complex multi-agent systems (MASs). The development and testing of the AVEB application are part of an EU project called FACTS (FIPA Agent Communication Technologies and Services, ACTS Project No. AC317). A main result of using FIPA has been the identification of the usefulness and power of its protocols. The reason for the importance of the protocols in developing MASs is that it provides a degree of expressing cooperation within the MAS architecture. As the protocols stand currently, they are not sufficient to capture a complete explicit model of the cooperative requirements in MASs. However, they do provide a basis from which to start. We examine this feature of FIPA further, in order to evaluate its role as a bridge between the mental agency and social agency requirements in the development of cooperation in MASs.

A review of Content Languages Suitable for Agent-Agent Communication

2002

This technical report provides an evaluation of several possible languages and semantic formalisms that could be used in agent communication to play the role of a content language in the EU Agentcities.RTD project. The conclusions and background information may however be useful for agent developers more generally. This document includes a description of candidate languages, a list of criteria applied, evaluations of the five candidate languages and a final evaluation. The five candidate languages were DAML+OIL, ebXML, FIPA-SL, KIF and Prolog and the choice made for the EU Agentcities.RTD project was to develop services in KIF, FIPA-SL or both. Furthermore it is expected that the number and type of content language used in the EU Agentcities.RTD project will evolve over time as tests are carried out. The review process which led to the authoring of this document was carried out in the context of the Agentcities.RTD IST funded project (IST-2000-28385) and we would like to thank all project partners who contributed to it. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the EU Agentcities.RTD partners. Comment: This is the same as the abstract; we should write a separate introduction that provide a little more motivation.

Review of Content Languages Suitable for Agent-Agent Communication

2002

A language and protocol to support intelligent agent interoperability

1992

We describe a language and protocol intended to support interoperability among intelligent agents in a distributed application. Examples of applications envisioned include intelligent multi-agent design systems as well as intelligent planning, scheduling and replanning agents supporting distributed transportation planning and scheduling applications. The language, KQML for Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language, is part of a larger DARPA-sponsored Knowledge Sharing Initiative focused on developing techniques and tools to promote the sharing on knowledge in intelligent systems. We will de ne the concepts which underlie KQML and attempt to specify its scope and provide a model for how it will be used.

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.

CG-KQML+: an agent communication language and its use in a multi-agent system

2001

This paper deals with communication protocols between agents and between agents and users [3]. It presents a new communication model which is based on a careful analysis of speech act theory and on two fundamental principles applied to communication: a) communication is considered as a negotiation process and, b) communication results in an exchange of mental states. Using this model of communication and the conceptual graph formalism for the representational level, we propose a new agent communication language, called CG-KQML+ which is an extension of the KQML language. The paper also shows the use of CG-KQML+ in a MAS called POSTAGE which aims at helping users in their correspondence task. In POSTAGE, software agents manage administrative correspondence on behalf of and in cooperation with their users. Users and agents have interactions which respect administrative correspondence rules. A POSTAGE agent is responsible for sending the generated message to the addressee's POSTAGE agent. The paper presents the second version of POSTAGE which is implemented using the Prolog+CG language. This paper deals with communication protocols between agents and between agents and users [ 3]. It presents a new communication model which is based on a deep analysis of speech act theory [ 22] [28] and on two fundamental principles: a) communication is considered as a negotiation process [14, 18], b) communication results in an exchange of mental states [7, 24]. Thus, we consider agents' communication as exchanges of mental states (goals, beliefs, etc.) and exchanges of what we call communicational states (CS). Communication is considered as a negotiation game where agents negotiate about proposed CSs. An agent proposes a CS and other agents react to the proposal by accepting, rejecting the proposed CS or even asking for further information. Such an action establishes a relationship between the CS and the agent that is called an agent's positioning. Using this model of communication and the conceptual graph formalism for the representational level, we developed a new agent communication language, called CG-KQML+ which is an extension of the KQML language [12]. CG-KQML+ overcomes some limitations of KQML: KQML performatives are limited to the assertive and directive categories, inappropriate choice of performatives, different interpretations of KQML performatives. The paper also shows the use of CG-KQML+ in a MAS called POSTAGE (POSTman AGEnt) [2]. The aim of this MAS is to help users to achieve correspondence tasks. In POSTAGE, software agents manage administrative correspondence on behalf of and in cooperation with their users. Users and agents interact respecting administrative correspondence rules. A POSTAGE agent is responsible for sending the generated message to the addressee's POSTAGE agent. A first version of POSTAGE has been implemented using ECLIPSE [11] and Delphi [9]. Since that time and by using the Conceptual Graph formalism more fully, we enhanced our standardization work as well as our formulation of POSTAGE. Now, a new version of POSTAGE has been implemented with Prolog+CG language [ 15]. Being a CG-based extension of Prolog, Prolog+CG provides the abstraction level needed to easily implement a CG-based application. Indeed, our new version of POSTAGE is more concise and readable. Moreover, the integration of Java and Prolog+CG [16] enabled us to develop the front/end interface using Java and the kernel of the system using Prolog+CG. Section 2 presents our agent communication model. Section 3 presents CG-KQML+. Section 4 presents the POSTAGE multi-agent system. Section 5 discusses some future works and concludes the paper. 2 The communication model When interacting, agents can engage in two kinds of communication: agent/user communication and inter-agent communication (Figure 1). Agents communicate with users in order to characterize their needs and to provide them with answers or solutions. Agents communicate with each other in order to exchange various kinds of information. When communicating with other agents, an agent uses a specific Agent Communication Language (ACL). An agent's architecture contains a communication process which handles communication activities as well as other processes used to perform various tasks such as planning, decision making or negotiation. In this paper, we focus on the communication activity.

The state of the art in agent communication languages

Knowledge and Information Systems, 2000

Like societies of humans, there is a need for agents in a multi-agent system to rely on one another, enlist the support of peers in order to solve complex tasks. Agents will be able to cooperate only through a meaningful communication language that can bear correctly their mental states and convey precisely the content of their messages. In search for the ideal agent communication language (ACL), several initiatives like the pioneering work of the Knowledge Sharing Effort and the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) are paving the way for a platform where all agents would be able to interact regardless of their implementation environment. ACL is a new field of study that could gain from a survey in expanding its application areas. For this purpose, we examine in this paper the state of the art in ACL design and suggest some principles for building a generalized ACL framework. We then evaluate some existing ACL models, and present the current issues in ACL research, and new perspectives.

KQML as an agent communication language

… Information and knowledge …, 1994

One of the de ning characteristics of an information agent is its ability for exible interaction and interoperation with other, similar software agents. This focus on interoperability has been the foundation of the approach of the Knowledge Sharing E ort KSE in developing a basic framework for intelligent systems. We present KSE approach and the solutions suggested for the subproblems identi ed by the consortium, emphasizing the KSE's communication language and protocol KQML Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language. In addition to presenting speci c solutions, we are interested in demonstrating the conceptual decomposition of the problem of knowledge sharing into smaller more manageable problems, and in arguing that there is merit to those concepts independent of the success of individual solutions.

Semantics for an agent communication language

1998

We address the issue of semantics for an agent communication language. In particular, the semantics of Knowledge Query Manipulation Language (KQML) is investigated. KQML is a language and protocol to support communication between software agents. We present a semantic description for KQML that associates states of the agent with the use of the language's primitives (performatives). We have used this approach to describe the semantics for the whole set of reserved KQML performatives.

Evaluation of KQML as an agent communication language

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 1996

Thischapter d i scusses t h e d e sirablefeatures o fl a nguages a n d p r otocols f o r communication a m ong i n telligent i n formation a g ents. T h ese desiderata ared i videdintosevencategories:f o rm,content,semantics,im plementation,n e tworking, e n vironment, a n dreliability. T h e K n owledge Q u ery a n d M anipulation Language K QML i s a n e wl a nguage a n d p r otocol f o r e xchanging i n formation andk n owledge. T h is w o rki sp a rto fal a rger e ort, t h e A R PAKn owledge S h ar-ingE ort,wh ichisaimedatdevelopingtechniquesandmethodologiesforb uildinglarge scale k n owledgeb a sesthataresharablea n dreusable.K Q MLisbo tha messageformatandamessage handlingprotocoltosupportrun timeknowledge sharinga m onga g ents. K Q MLis described a n de valuateda sa na g ent c o mmunicationlanguagerelative t o t h edesiderata. ToappearinIntelligentAg entsV olume I I P r oceedingsofthe1995Workshopon Agent T h eories, A r chitectures, a n d L a nguages. M. W ooldridge, J .P. M u ller a n d M.T ambeeds.L e ctureN o tesi nA r ti cialI n telligence,S p ringer-Verlag,1 9 96. Software agent technologies Scripting languages Agent communication languages Languages for software agents Theoretical frameworks Models of human communication Coordination protocols Agent languages KQML Tcl/Tk Java Telescript CORBA ILU OpenDoc OLE

Evaluating the FIPA Standards and Its Role in Achieving Cooperation in Multi-Agent Systems (original) (raw)

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