Transcript Data Mining Engineering

Multi-Agent Systems
A Modern Approach to Distributed
Artificial Intelligence
Peter Brezany
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Introduction and Definitions
• Intelligent Agents are relatively a new appearence in commercial
applications.
• Their study began in the field of distributed artificial intelligence
(DAI) vor 20 years.
• Definition: DAS is a field, which investigates systems where several
(intelligent) entities cooperate to achieve one goal or to fulfill one
common task. These entities are called agents and the field is called
multi-agent systems (MAS).
• Currently several Java-based systems for the construction of MAS
exist.
• Definition: An agent observes its environment by means of it sensors,
and autonomously acts in this environment by means of its tools.
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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An Agent in its Environment
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Attributes of an Intelligent Agent
1. Reaktivness – reaktion to changes in the
environment is some time intervals to achieve its
goal.
2. Proaktivness – to take initiative, goal-oriented
behavior.
3. Social behavior – interraction with other agents to
achieve their common goal.
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Agent Description : Example
action : P  A
P - percept through sensors, A – action through effectors
Condition-action rules
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Agent Description : Example (2)
function SIMPLE-REFLEX-AGENT (percept) returns action
static: rules
// a set of condition-action rules
env-state  INTERPRET-INPUT(percept)
rule  RULE-MATCH(env-state, rules)
action  RULE-ACTION[rule]
return action
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Simple Example
if sensor (mailArrived) then effector (processMail)
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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A Framework for Intelligent Agent
Development
Translation from the English
original
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Mobile Agents
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Mobile Agent
A mobile agent is an autonomous program that can migrate under its own control
from machine to machine – on each machine, it interacts with service agents and
other resources to accomplish its task.
Below, an agent has migrated so that it can interact locally with a search engine
and will migrate again to interact with additional search engines. Once the agent
has the desired information, it will migrate one last time to return to its home
site so that it can present the information to its owner.
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Introduction to the Topic
Internet and mobile agents
• Think of the Internet as a distributed, massively parallel
supercomputer that connects information repositories,
databases, intelligent agents, and a mobile code.
• You can send your own personalized agents to roam the
Internet. They will monitor your favorite Web sites, get
you the ticket you couldn‘t get at the box office or help
you to remotely schedule meetings for your overseas trip.
The role of Java
• The advent of Java has truly revolutionized the Internet.
It has created a global infrastructure that is just waiting
for mobile agents to roam its wires and interact with
millions od computers. (IBM Solution - Java Aglets)
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Introduction (2)
• Mobile agents have the unique ability to transport
themselves from one system in a network to another.
The ability to travel allows mobile agents to move to a
system that contains services with which they want to
interact and to take the advantage of being in the same
host or network as the service (see the next figure).
• Mobile agents reduce network traffic and provide an
effective means of overcoming network latency.
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Introduction (3)
Mobile Agents Traveling from Computer to Computer
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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What is a Java Aglet?
• Aglet = „lightweight agent“
• Generalization and extension of Java applets and
servlets.
• Aglets are Java objects – mobile Java agents that
can move from one host on the Internet to another.
• „write once, run everywhere“ => „write once, go
everywhere“
• An aglet that executes on one host can suddenly
halt execution, dispatch itself to a remote host,
and resume execution there.
• When the aglet moves, it takes along its program
code as well as its data.
• Aglets are hosted by an Aglet server (see the next
figure)
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Safe Hosting of Incoming Aglet
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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What is the Aglet API?
• The Aglet API (Application Program Interface) is an
agent development kit – in other words, a set of
Java classes and interfaces that allows you to
create mobile Java agents.
• The Aglets Software Development Kit (ASDK) is an
implementation of the Aglet API that can be
dowloaded from IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory´s
Web site
http://www.trl.ibm.com/aglets/idoagree103.htm.
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Several Good Reasons for Using MAs
1. They reduce the network load
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Several Good Reasons for Using MAs (2)
2. They execute asynchronously and autonomously.
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Several Good Reasons for Using MAs (3)
3. They overcome network latency – Critical real-time
systems need to respond in real time to chnges in their
environment. Controlling such systems throigh a factory
network of a substantial size involves significant
latencies – not acceptable in many cases.
Solution: Mobile agents can be dispatched from a
central controller to act locally and directly execute
the controller‘s directions.
4. They adapt dynamically. Mas have the ability to sense
their execution environment and react autonomously to
changes.
5. They are naturally heterogeneous – they provide
optimal conditions for seamless system integration.
6. They are robust and fault-tolerant – dynamic reaction
to unfavorable situations and events; if a host is being
shut down, all agents executing on that machine will be
warned and can dispatch and continua their operation on
another host in the
network.
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Network Computing Paradigms
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Elements of a Mobile Agent System
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Agent
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The 2 fundamental concepts in the MA model: the agent
and its execution environment – the place.
A mobile agent is an entity that has 5 attributes (When an
agent moves in the network it takes them with it):
State: needed to resume computation after travelling.
Implementation: needed for location-independent agent
execution.
Interface: needed for agent communication.
Identifier: needed to recognize and locate traveling
agents.
Principals: needed to determine legal and moral
responsibility (manufacturer, owner, etc).
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Agent Properties
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Place
It is a context in which an agent can execute.
4 concepts play an important role in places:
• Engine : workhorse and virtual machine for one or more places
• Resources : databases, processors, and other services
provided by the host
• Location : the network address of a given place
• Principals : those legally responsible for the operation of a place
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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The Agent Model Pyramid
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Agent Behavior: Creation and Disposal
• An agent gets created in a place. The creation can be
initiated either by another agent residing in the same
place or by nonagent system outside the place.
• The creator is required to authenticate itself to the place,
establishing the authority and credentials that the new
agent will possess; initialization arguments for the agent
can also be supplied.
• Creation involves three steps:
– Instantiation and identifier assignment.
– Initialization.
– Autonomous execution.
• Disposing of an agent:
– Preparing for disposal.
– Suspension of execution
P.Brezany
Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Agent Behavior: Transfer
• The transfer process can be initiated by
– the agent itself,
– another agent residing in the same place, or
– another agent or nonagent system outside the place.
• The agent is then dispatched from its current place
(origin) and received by the specified place
destination
• The origin place and the destination place manage
the dispatch process.
• See the next slide!
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Agent Transfer
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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Agent Class Transfer
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Institut für Softwarewissenschaft - Universität Wien
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