A mobile agent platform based on tuple space coordination

Abstract

This paper presents JMAP, a Java-based mobile agents platform. JMAP provides a flexible and efficient agent coordination mechanism and a reliable agent migration mechanism, and supports persistence of agent state and agent security. The unique feature of JMAP is its agent coordination mechanism that exploits the advantages of the extensible markup language (XML) and Linda-like coordination. This XML-based Linda-like coordination mechanism suits the mobility and openness of the Internet application. The XML standard for Internet data representation can guarantee a high degree of interoperability between heterogeneous environments. The design and implementation of key technologies of JMAP are described in this paper. An agent-based application example shows the suitability and the effectiveness of the JMAP. Performance evaluation is made and comparisons with other mobile agent platforms are also made. Meanwhile, some related works are discussed. Finally, some conclusions and remarks are given.