Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

A reference architecture integrates a set of architectural patterns that have proven their value for a family of applications. Such family of applications is characterized by specific functionality and quality requirements. A reference architecture provides a blueprint for developing software architectures for applications that share that common base. As such, a reference architecture provides a means for large-scale reuse of architectural design.

This paper gives an overview of a reference architecture for situated multiagent systems we have developed in our research. We discuss various architectural views of the reference architecture. Per view, we zoom in on the main view packets, each of them containing a bundle of information of a part of the reference architecture. For each view packet we explain the rationale for the design choices that were made and we give built-in mechanisms that describe how the view packet can be exercised to build a concrete software architecture. We illustrate the use of the reference architecture with an excerpt of the software architecture of an industrial AGV transportation system.

The AGRE model proposed by Ferber is based on an interesting generalization of both physical and social environments. In this paper we revisit the AGRE model and extend it with richer social concepts such as powers, norms and a dependency relationship which is similar to the operator introduced by Searle to describe the construction of social reality. Our main contribution consists in the fact that we attribute to the environment the main role in describing and controlling (social) interaction.

One large and quite interesting family of MAS applications is characterized (1) by their large scale in terms of number of agents and physical distribution, (2) by their very dynamic nature and (3) by their complex functional and non-functional requirements. This family includes a.o. manufacturing control, traffic control and web service coordination. BDI-based agent architectures have proven their usefulness in building MASs for complex systems - their explicit attention for coping with dynamic environments is one obvious explanation for this. For the family of applications mentioned above, the complexity of the software for the individual agents using traditional BDI-approaches, however, is overwhelming.

In this paper, we present an innovative approach to BDI agents which alleviates agent complexity through so-called “delegate MASs”, which use the environment and its resources to obtain BDI functionality. Delegate MASs consist of light-weight agents, which are issued either by resources for building and maintaining information on the environment, or by task agents in order to explore the options on behalf of the agents and to coordinate their intentions. We describe the approach, and validate it in a case study of manufacturing control. The evaluation in this case study shows the feasibility of the approach in coping with the large scale of the application and shows that the approach elegantly achieves flexibility in highly dynamic environments.

This paper describes CArtAgO, a framework for developing artifact-based working environments for multiagent systems (MAS). The framework is based on the notion of , as a basic abstraction to model and engineer objects, resources and tools designed to be used and manipulated by agents at run-time to support their working activities, in particular the cooperative ones. CArtAgO enables MAS engineers to design and develop suitable artifacts, and to extend existing agent platforms with the possibility to create artifact-based working environments, programming agents to exploit them. In this paper, first the abstract model and architecture of CArtAgO is described, then a first Java-based prototype technology is discussed.

Indirect interactions have been shown to be of interest in MultiAgent Systems (MAS), in the simulation area as well as in real applications. The environment is also emerging as a first-order abstraction. Intuitively, the environment being a common medium for the agents, it should be a suitable paradigm to provide an infrastructure for both direct and indirect interactions. However, it still lacks of a consensus on how the two relate to each other, and how the environment can support effectively notions as communication or awareness. We propose a general and operational model, Environment as Active Support of Interaction, that enables the agents to actively participate in the definition of their perceptions. Then, we show how the model provides a suitable framework for the regulation of the MAS interactions.

Tag interactions are agent interactions that complement and differ from speech act communication models. Tags are public information that agents expose to others in the system to allow two types of interactions. Tag monitoring interactions let agents observe the tags of others actively. Tag fortuitous interactions make agents realize the tag of others with unrequested and application-dependent messages. In this paper we model tag interactions based on the agent and to enact, maintain, and regulate their execution. We discuss the model and we identify further issues in the current state of the research. An example application is described in detail to show the potential of introducing tag interactions.

has been adopted in MAS (multi-agent systems) and in other fields as a technique for realising forms of emergent coordination in societies composed by a large amount of ant-like, non-rational agents. In this paper we discuss a conceptual (and engineering) framework for exploring the use of stigmergy in the context of societies composed by cognitive / rational agents, as a means for supporting high-level, knowledge-based social activities.multi-agent We refer to this kind of stigmergy as . Cognitive stigmergy is based on the use of as tools populating and structuring the agent working environment, and which agents perceive, share and rationally use for their individual goals. Artifacts are environment abstractions that mediate agent interaction and enable emergent coordination: as such, they can be used to encapsulate and enact the stigmergic mechanisms and the shared knowledge upon which emergent coordination processes are based.

In this paper, we start exploring this scenario introducing an agent-based framework for cognitive stigmergy based on artifacts. After discussing the main conceptual issues—the notion of cognitive stigmergy and the role of artifacts—, we sketch an abstract architecture for cognitive stigmergy, and outline its implementation upon the TuCSoN agent coordination infrastructure.

When agents act is a common environment they leave traces. In this paper we explore the importance of using such traces as signals (stigma). Trace signals enable a flexible way to support indirect interaction between agents without adopting dedicated communication channels and signals. Although the kind of messages that can be exchanged with traces is limited, their importance for decentralized and dynamic multi-agent systems is vast. A taxonomy of trace-signals is provided and their role in different social interactions is explored. Some of the benefits and limitations of this trace-based communication are discussed.

The notion of environment as a first class abstraction in Multi–Agent Systems (MAS) has affirmed itself both as a necessary element of the related models and systems, and as useful source of concepts and mechanisms for their design and implementation. However, the functions and responsibilities that the environment should accomplish in different application contexts are still under debate in the agent research community. This paper is focused on agent-based simulation and in particular on the regulation function of the environment, which is a crucial factor supporting the enforcement of the required level of realism in the dynamics generated by the simulation system. In particular, the paper shows that the MAS based simulation context provides features that require a peculiar balance between agent autonomy and environment control on the overall system dynamics.

This paper is part of a long term research program on multi-agent systems (MASs), based on the proposition that the interactions among the members of a large and heterogeneous system of autonomous agents need to be governed by a global and strictly enforced ; and that such laws need to be , so that they can be complied with at the locus of each agent—without having any direct information of the coincidental state of other members of the MAS. Such concept of law has been realized under our LGI coordination and control mechanism.

This paper shows how local laws over a MAS can be used to establish global and system properties in a scalable manner; where by “aggregate properties” we mean properties defined over the coincidental interactions among several, possibly many, members of a given multi-agent system.