Deliberate evolution in multi-agent systems

This paper presents an architecture for an agent capable of deliberation about the creation of new agents, and of actually creating a new agent in the multi-agent system, on the basis of this deliberation. After its creation the new agent participates fully in the running multi-agent system. The agent architecture is based on an existing generic agent model, and includes explicit formal conceptual representations of both structures of agents and (behavioural) properties of agents that can be used as requirements. Moreover, to support the deliberation process the agent has explicit knowledge of relations between structure and properties of agents. To actually create a new agent at run-time on the basis of the results of deliberation, the agent executes a creation action in the material world, which leads to a world state update to include the new agent, after which the new agent functions within the multi-agent system. This approach enables the design of evolution processes in societies of agents for which the evolution is not a merely material process which takes place in isolation from the mental worlds of the agents, but allows for interaction between mental and material processes. A combined mind-matter approach results in which the agents in a society can deliberatively influence the direction of the evolution, comparable to the potential offered by genetic engineering. The architecture has been designed using the compositional development method DESIRE, and has been tested in a prototype implementation. It is discussed how the approach introduced here can be used as a basis for automatic evolution of multi-agent systems for Electronic Commerce

Deliberate evolution in multi-agent systems

and their applications. SMC is sponsored by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). CWI is a member o

Deliberate Evolution in Multi-Agent Systems

This paper presents an architecture for an agent capable of deliberation about the creation of new agents, and of actually creating a new agent in the multi-agent system, on the basis of this deliberation. The agent architecture is based on an existin

Deliberative Evolution in Multi-Agent Systems

Item does not contain fulltextEvolution of automated systems, in particular evolution of automated agents based on agent deliberation, is the topic of this paper. Evolution is not a merely material process, it requires interaction within and between individuals, their environments and societies of agents. An architecture for an individual agent capable of (1) deliberation about the creation of new agents, and (2) (run-time) creation of a new agent on the basis of this, is presented. The agent architecture is based on an existing generic agent model, and includes explicit formal conceptual representations of both design structures of agents and (behavioural) properties of agents. The process of deliberation is based on an existing generic reasoning model of design. The architecture has been designed using the compositional development method DESIRE, and has been tested in a prototype implementation

Mecanismos de mediación entre agentes inteligentes y servicios web

Los servicios Web y los agentes inteligentes se han constitui do hoy en día en dos tecnolog ías fundamentales para el desarrollo de aplicaciones industriales y basadas en la Web. Si bien son ampliamente reconocidas las potenciales ventajas de la interoperabilidad de ambas tecnolog ías, llevar a cabo tal integracióon no es una tarea sencilla si consideramos que cada una de ellas ha sido desarrollada tomando en cuenta diferentes est andars y especi caciones. En este trabajo, proponemos un enfoque que en lugar de considerar estas funcionalidades de integraci ón como una facilidad disponible a los agentes individuales, las traslada al contexto multiagente mediante el uso de mecanismos de mediación y sus protocolos asociados. La factibilidad de la propuesta es determinada mediante la implementaci ón de WSIBA, un sistema que implementa un proto- colo particular de mediaci ón (brokering) y un ejemplo sencillo donde se muestra de qu e manera WSIBA permite el acceso a los agentes de servicios Web para acceder a informaci ón del tiempo y conversiones de temperaturas.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Applications of agent architectures to decision support in distributed simulation and training systems

This work develops the approach and presents the results of a new model for applying intelligent agents to complex distributed interactive simulation for command and control. In the framework of tactical command, control communications, computers and intelligence (C4I), software agents provide a novel approach for efficient decision support and distributed interactive mission training. An agent-based architecture for decision support is designed, implemented and is applied in a distributed interactive simulation to significantly enhance the command and control training during simulated exercises. The architecture is based on monitoring, evaluation, and advice agents, which cooperate to provide alternatives to the dec ision-maker in a time and resource constrained environment. The architecture is implemented and tested within the context of an AWACS Weapons Director trainer tool. The foundation of the work required a wide range of preliminary research topics to be covered, including real-time systems, resource allocation, agent-based computing, decision support systems, and distributed interactive simulations. The major contribution of our work is the construction of a multi-agent architecture and its application to an operational decision support system for command and control interactive simulation. The architectural design for the multi-agent system was drafted in the first stage of the work. In the next stage rules of engagement, objective and cost functions were determined in the AWACS (Airforce command and control) decision support domain. Finally, the multi-agent architecture was implemented and evaluated inside a distributed interactive simulation test-bed for AWACS Vv\u27Ds. The evaluation process combined individual and team use of the decision support system to improve the performance results of WD trainees. The decision support system is designed and implemented a distributed architecture for performance-oriented management of software agents. The approach provides new agent interaction protocols and utilizes agent performance monitoring and remote synchronization mechanisms. This multi-agent architecture enables direct and indirect agent communication as well as dynamic hierarchical agent coordination. Inter-agent communications use predefined interfaces, protocols, and open channels with specified ontology and semantics. Services can be requested and responses with results received over such communication modes. Both traditional (functional) parameters and nonfunctional (e.g. QoS, deadline, etc.) requirements and captured in service requests

Political artifacts and personal privacy : the Yenta multi-agent distributed matchmaking system

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-128).Technology does not exist in a social vacuum. The design and patterns of use of any particular technological artifact have implications both for the direct users of the technology, and for society at large. Decisions made by technology designers and implementors thus have political implications that are often ignored. If these implications are not made a part of the design process, the resulting effects on society can be quite undesirable. The research advanced here therefore begins with a political decision: It is almost always a greater social good to protect personal information against unauthorized disclosure than it is to allow such disclosure. This decision is expressly in conflict with those of many businesses and government entities. Starting from this premise, a multi-agent architecture was designed that uses both strong cryptography and decentralization to enable a broad class of Internet-based software applications to handle personal information in a way that is highly resistant to disclosure. Further, the design is robust in ways that can enable users to trust it more easily: They can trust it to keep private information private, and they can trust that no single entity can take the system away from them. Thus, by starting with the explicit political goal of encouraging well-placed user trust, the research described here not only makes its social choices clear, it also demonstrates certain technical advantages over more traditional approaches. We discuss the political and technical background of this research, and explain what sorts of applications are enabled by the multi-agent architecture proposed. We then describe a representative example of this architecture--the Yenta matchmaking system. Yenta uses the coordinated interaction of large numbers of agents to form coalitions of users across the Internet who share common interests, and then enables both one-to-one and group conversations among them. It does so with a high degree of privacy, security, and robustness, without requiring its users to place unwarranted trust in any single point in the system.by Leonard Newton Foner.Ph.D