The interoperability problem: bringing together mobile agents and agent communication languages

Abstract

Interoperability is a central issue far both the mobile agents community and the wider agents community. Unfortunately, the interoperability concerns are different between the two communities. As a result, inter-agent communication is an issue that has been addressed in a limited manner by the mobile agents community. Supplementing mobile agents with the ability to interact a a higher level with other mobile or static agents, or agentified information sources is a necessity in the vastly heterogeneous arena where mobile agents are called to compete. An agent communication language (ACL) has been interpreted by the agents community as a tool with the capacity to integrate disparate sources of information. Such a perspective does not seem to be shared by the mobile agents community. We investigate the origins of the differences of perspective on agent to agent communication and examine the reasons for the relative lack of interest on ACLs by mobile agents researchers and explore the integration of ACLs into mobile agents frameworks.