Design patterns for multi-agent simulations

The advent of mobile agent technology has brought along a few difficulties in designing a stable, efficient and scalable system for a certain problem. Agent-based simulations prove to be powerful tools for economic analyses. In this paper we aim at describing a set of design patterns which were specifically built for agents and multi-agent systems. The details of each design pattern discussed are presented and the possible applications and known issues are noted. In order to aid the software designers, we provide some examples of the basic implementation of these patterns using the JADE multi-agent framework.intelligent agent, multi-agent design, multi-agent simulation.

Mobile Agent-Based Software Systems Modeling Approaches: A Comparative Study

Mobile agent-based applications are special type of software systems which take the advantages of mobile agents in order to provide a new beneficial paradigm to solve multiple complex problems in several fields and areas such as network management, e-commerce, e-learning, etc. Likewise, we notice lack of real applications based on this paradigm and lack of serious evaluations of their modeling approaches. Hence, this paper provides a comparative study of modeling approaches of mobile agent-based software systems. The objective is to give the reader an overview and a thorough understanding of the work that has been done and where the gaps in the research are

Extensió de l'entorn SMARD per permetre la depuració d'aplicacions basades en agents mòbils

Un dels principals obstacles per l'adopció dels agents mòbils, fins i tot per tasques per les quals s'ha demostrat la seva idoneïtat, és la dificultat de desenvolupar-los. Aquest projecte aporta solucions per ajudar en aquest procés. Més concretament, per provar agents i observar-ne el seu comportament en un entorn de simulació, abans d'executar-los en un escenari real. Hem afegit un depurador i un constructor d'agents mòbils a la interfície gràfica de disseny d'itineraris de l'entorn SMARD. Fent servir afegit aquests nous components, el programador pot dissenyar, construir i fer proves d'un agent mòbil des d'aquesta aplicació.Uno de los principales obstáculos para la adopción de los agentes móviles, incluso para tareas en las que se ha demostrado su idoneidad, es la dificultad de su desarrollo. Este proyecto aporta soluciones para ayudar a realizar este proceso. Más específicamente, para probar agentes y observar su comportamiento en un entorno de simulación, antes de ejecutarlos en un escenario real. Hemos añadido un depurador y un constructor de agentes móviles a la interfaz gráfica de diseño de itinerarios del entorno SMARD. Utilizando estos nuevos componentes, el programador puede diseñar, construir y probar un agente móvil desde esta aplicación.One of the most important handicaps for the adoption of mobile agents, even for tasks in which they have proved to be suitable, is the difficulty involving their development. This project provides solutions to help in this process. Specifically, to test them and watch their behaviour in a simulation environment before running them in a real-world scenario. We have added a debugger and an agent builder to the SMARD's itinerary designing interface. By using these new elements, the programmer is able to design, build and test a mobile agent from this application

A model for capturing the software architecture design process of mobile systems

Numerous efforts have addressed the problem of defining the fundamental architectural building blocks and methods for modelling software architectures in dynamic mobile environments. However, there is a lack of tools for documentingthe evolution of the products generated during the design of software architectures for mobile systems. Based on a generic versioning administration scheme, a model to capture and manage the products of a software architecture design process is proposed placing the focus on mobility concerns. This model follows an operational approach, where design decisions are represented as architectural operations that are captured when they are applied during a design project. The capture of this information enables the tracing of such a design process and its resulting products.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

A Methodology for Modelling Mobile Agent-Based Systems (Mobile agent Mobility Methodology - MaMM)

Mobile agents are a particular type of agents that have all the characteristics of an agent and also demonstrate the ability to move or migrate from one node to another in a network environment. Mobile agents have received considerable attention from industry and the research community in recent times due to the fact that their special characteristic of migration help address issues such as network overload, network latency and protocol encapsulation. Due to the current focus in exploiting agent technology mainly in a research environment, there has been an influx of software engineering methodologies for developing multi-agent systems. However, little attention has been given to modelling mobile agents. For mobile agent-based systems to become more widely accepted there is a critical need for a methodology to be developed to address various issues related to modelling mobility of agent . This research study provides an overview of the current approaches, methodologies and modelling languages that can be used for developing multi-agent systems. The overview indicates extensive research on methodologies for modelling multi-agent systems and little on mobility in mobile agent-based systems. An original contribution in this research known as Mobile agent-based Mobility Methodology (MaMM) is the methodology for modelling mobility in mobile agent-based systems using underlying principles of Genetic Algorithms (GA) with emphasis on fitness functions and genetic representation. Delphi study and case studies were employed in carrying out this research