Towards Meta-Agent Protocols

. Software agents "live" in changing environments. Perception and actions of agents need to adapt dynamically to new situations. This paper is concerned with meta-agent protocols, an approach to support the modular and portable implementation of various kinds of agent systems. Meta-agent protocols are derived from object-based reflective systems that allow access to the state and structure of a program during its execution. A meta level interface to the internal representation of agents can provide support for introspection and adjustment of agents. Meta-agent protocols result in a clear separation between application level and meta level (e.g. dynamic communication protocols, dynamic modification of behaviour, fault tolerance, monitoring, dynamic performance optimization) in agent systems which leads to modular as well as portable application components. 1 Introduction The Internet is a dynamic and distributed system. It is constructed from open services built around a standard commu..