Foundation For Intelligent Physical Agents Research Articles

The use of multi-agent systems in an automated restoration process for power distribution networks

The capacity of future smart grids to automatically detect problems, isolate them, and restore service is a key feature. Traditional mathematical programming techniques and heuristic approaches become computationally highly expensive when used for the restoration issue, which is a comprehensive nonlinear optimization challenge. Distributed control must offer comfortable and safe power system operation and improve consumer supply quality. In this article, we suggest the multi-agent system (MAS) as the creative process that applies to the existing power distribution network. The MAS agents are installed in "Intelligent electronic devices (IEDs)" and interact with one another using open protocols from the "Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIAP)." A Java-based distribution system simulator was built to test how well MAS works. In-lab experiments were conducted with the simulator connected to the MAS. The test findings demonstrated that the MAS effectively restored healthy divides by changing them to their original configuration following a predetermined sequence, notwithstanding the system's operating limits. The suggested MAS has shown the efficacy of a distributed control method that uses in the absence of the technologies currently employed in IEDs for control and protection.

Modelling dynamic behaviour of agents in a multiagent world: Logical analysis of Wh-questions and answers

Abstract In a multiagent and multi-cultural world, the fine-grained analysis of agents’ dynamic behaviour, i.e. of their activities, is essential. Dynamic activities are actions that are characterized by an agent who executes the action and by other participants of the action. Wh-questions on the participants of the actions pose a difficult particular challenge because the variability of the types of possible answers to such questions is huge. To deal with the problem, we propose the analysis and classification of Wh-questions apt for agents’ communication in a multiagent system (MAS). Our proposal of such a system consists of agents who communicate with their fellow agents by messaging so that each autonomous agent, though resource-bounded, can make less or more rational decisions to meet its own and collective goals. In addition, by communicating with other fellow agents and their environment, agents can learn new concepts and enrich their ontology so that their behaviour is dynamic. We aim to make a general proposal of the system so that the ‘envelope’ of agents’ messages can be formalized in any MAS standard, be it The Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents - Agent Communication Language (FIPA-ACL) or Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language (KQML). Yet, the content of messages is encoded in a formalized natural language. To this end, we apply Transparent Intensional Logic (TIL) with its procedural semantics which is particularly apt for a fine-grained analysis in which all the semantically salient features of natural language can be plausibly formalized. In this paper, we concentrate on analysing the content of query messages, particularly the content of those that encode Wh-questions and the answers to them. We also summarize TIL deduction system that makes it possible to answer such questions in an intelligent way. Linguists distinguish several subtypes of Wh-questions. Though the linguistic classification is helpful, it is not always suitable for agents’ communication and reasoning. We need the classification based on a logical analysis of Wh-questions so that the agents can infer possible answers to such questions rather than only looking for them by keywords. This paper aims to apply an appropriate classification of the logical types of Wh-questions and the analysis of such questions; we concentrate in particular on questions concerning the participants of activities. The application of these results to the analysis of processes and events based on verb valency frames is another novelty of the paper.

Design and Implementation of Inter-operable and Secure Agent Migration Protocol

Mobile agent technology is an active research topic and has found its uses in various diverse areas ranging from simple personal assistance to complex distributed big data systems. Its usage permits offline and autonomous execution as compared to classical distributed systems. The free roaming nature of agents makes it prone to several security threats during its transit state, with an added overhead in its interoperability among different types of platforms. To address these problems, both software and hardware based approaches have been proposed to ensure protection at various transit points. However, these approaches do not ensure interoperability and protection to agents during transit over a channel, simultaneously. In this regard, an agent requires a trustworthy, interoperable, and adaptive protocol for secure migration. In this paper, to answer these research issues, we first analyse security flaws in existing agent protection frameworks. Second, we implemented a novel migration architecture which is: 1) fully inter-operable compliance to the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) and 2) trustworthy based on Computing Trusted Platform Module (TPM). The proposed approach is validated by testing on software TPM of IBM, JSR321, and jTPMTools as TPM and Trusted Computing Software Stack (TSS) interfaces, JADE-agent framework and 7Mobility Service (JIPMS). Validation is also performed on systems bearing physical TPM-chips. Moreover, some packages of JIPMS are also modified by embedding our proposed approach into their functions. Our performance results show that our approach merely adds an execution overhead during the binding and unbinding phases

Development of a prototype of multi-agent system of network interaction of educational institutions

The aim of the researchis to develop a prototype of the intelligent multi-agent system for dynamic interaction of the intelligent agents in the integrated information and educational space to solve the problem of formation of joint educational programs by several educational institutions.Materials and methods.In modern conditions of digital transformation of education the organization of network training of students on dynamically formed educational programs in accordance with the needs of the labor market and the individual requirements of students is becoming increasingly important. It is proposed to develop a software platform based on intelligent multi-agent technology for flexible integration of educational resources and implementation of joint educational programs by several interacting educational institutions. As a basis for the development of the software prototype architecture, the specifications of the developer community for the standardization of agent technologies FIPA (the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents), and the software tool environment – JADE framework (Java Agent Development Network) were chosen.Results.The paper presents the architecture of intelligent multi-agent system for network interaction of educational institutions in the integrated information and educational space, which allows to dynamically forming educational programs in accordance with the requested professional competencies. The structure of the ontology of information and educational space, providing the interaction of intelligent agents, is justified, and the mechanism of its display from the OWL format to the format of the tool environment JADE, using the plugin Protege is described. The description of the software prototype, the structure of intelligent agents in the JADE format and the technology of agent interaction, based on the FIPA protocols in the process of educational programs formation is presented.Conclusion.The implementation of the multi-agent system prototype for network interaction of educational institutions allows you to quickly create educational programs in accordance with individual and group learning trajectories under the specific formed professional competence. The presented software prototype with some modification can be used for other subject areas of the digital economy, involving the dynamic formation of network structures of interaction for business partners.

Linked Data Aware Agent Development Framework for Mobile Devices

Due to advances in mobile device and wireless networking technologies, it has already been possible to transfer agent technology into mobile computing environments. In this paper, we introduce the Linked Data Aware Agent Development Framework for Mobile Devices (LDAF-M), which is an agent development framework that supports the development of linked data aware agents that run on mobile devices. Linked data, which is the realization of the semantic web vision, refers to a set of best practices for publishing, interconnecting and consuming structured data on the web. An agent developed using LDAF-M has the ability to obtain data from the linked data environment and internalize the gathered data as its beliefs in its belief base. Besides linked data support, LDAF-M has also other prominent features which are its peer-to-peer based communication infrastructure, compliancy with Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) standards and support for the Belief Desire Intention (BDI) model of agency in mobile device agents. To demonstrate use of LDAF-M, an agent based auction application has been developed as a case study. On the other hand, LDAF-M can be used in any scenario where systems consisting of agents in mobile devices are to be developed. There is a close relationship between agents and linked data, since agents are considered as the autonomous computing entities that will process data in the linked data environment. However, not much work has been conducted on connecting these two related technologies. LDAF-M aims to contribute to the establishment of the connections between agents and the linked data environment by introducing a framework for developing linked data aware agents.

Development and Application of a Real-Time Testbed for Multiagent System Interoperability: A Case Study on Hierarchical Microgrid Control

This paper presents the development and application of a real-time testbed for multiagent system interoperability. As utility independent private microgrids are installed constantly, standardized interoperability frameworks are required to define behavioral models of the individual agents for expandability and plug-and-play operation. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive hybrid agent framework combining the foundation for intelligent physical agents (FIPAs), IEC 61850, and data distribution service (DDS) standards. The IEC 61850 logical node concept is extended using FIPA-based agent communication language with application specific attributes and deliberative behavior modeling capability. The DDS middleware is adopted to enable a real-time publisher-subscriber interoperability mechanism between platforms. The proposed multi-agent framework was validated in a laboratory-based testbed involving developed intelligent electronic device prototypes and actual microgrid setups. Experimental results were demonstrated for both decentralized and distributed control approaches. Secondary and tertiary control levels of a microgrid were demonstrated for decentralized hierarchical control case study. A consensus-based economic dispatch case study was demonstrated as a distributed control example. It was shown that the developed agent platform is industrially applicable for actual smart grid field deployment.

메시지 지향 미들웨어 ZeroMQ 기반의 다중 에이전트 메시지 전송 구조

This paper suggests a multi-agent message transport architecture based on the message-oriented middleware ZeroMQ. Compared with the other middlewares such as CORBA, Ice, and Thrift, ZeroMQ receives a good score in the evaluation of performance, QoS (Quality of Service), patterns, user friendliness, and resources. The suggested message transfer architecture borrowed many basic concepts like agent platform, AMS (Agent Management System), and MTS (Message Transfer System) from FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents) standard multi-agent specifications, and the architecture inherited the strength of the architecture from the multi-agent framework SMAF (Smart Multi-Agent Framework). The architecture suggested in this paper is a novel peer-to-peer architecture which is not known to the ZeroMQ community. In the suggested architecture, every MTS agent uses only one ZeroMQ router socket to support peer-to-peer communication among MTS agents. The suggested architecture can support closely collaborating software areas such as intelligent robots as well as the traditional application areas of multi-agent architecture. The suggested architecture has interoperability and scalability with the ZeroMQ devices and patterns.

Multi-Agent Modeling Toolkit – MAMT

Multi-agent system consists of two or more agents which cooperate/coordinate with each other in order to solve a complex problem which would be difficult or inappropriate if solved by single agent. Multi-agents are modeled using Agent Unified Modeling Language (AUML) as Unified Modeling Language (UML) notations do not fully express agent properties/behaviors. In this paper, we have proposed Multi-Agent Modeling Toolkit (MAMT) to help a designer in building rapid multi-agent based applications. The purpose of this toolkit is to create agent development environment where the developer can have various facilities like reusability of existing/developed agents, customize built-in agents, etc. MAMT provides the designer with built-in agents which are developed using Java Agent Development (JADE) framework, with the help of these designers can rapidly build multi-agent based applications. Creation and customization of built-in agents is based on the prototype inclusion design pattern and the designer can add or modify methods/behaviors according to their requirement(s); however the changes should be based on FIPA (Foundation of Intelligent Physical Agents) standards and compatible with JADE. MAMT has been evaluated on large number of sample applications; results were very promising and encourage the use of toolkit.

Telemedicine using mobile telecommunication: Towards syntactic interoperability in teleexpertise

Telemedicine allows collaborative activities between health professionals for the deployment of medical procedures carried out remotely by means of device using information and communication technologies. This article focuses on the Teleexpertise that allows collaboration between medical professionals in order to share knowledge and expert advices used as explanation elements for decision support. We propose a conceptual model integrating the FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents) Contract Net Protocol which permits to collect medical professionals’ answers for a request for teleexpertise in an efficient manner. Our model satisfies four requirements (coverage, QoS (Quality of Service) guarantees and prioritisation, mobility and roaming, service usability) on the configuration and operation of the underlying network and the services. Therefore, we provide an operational assistance by improvement of the networks quality of service via interoperable web services. Finally, we hope to bring a tangible contribution on the implementation of this suggested conceptualization that will allow to generate relevant and action-oriented findings.

Design of a Multiagent‐Based Voltage Control System in Peer‐to‐Peer Networks for Smart Grids

AbstractEnergy management in distribution grids is one of the key challenges that needs to be overcome to increase the share of fluctuating renewable energies. Current control systems for energy management mainly demonstrate centralized‐ or decentralized‐hierarchical control structures. Very few systems manifest a fully decentralized multiagent‐based control structure. Multiagent‐based control systems promise to be an advantageous approach for the future distributed energy supply system because no central control entity is necessary, which eases parameterization in case of grid topology changes, and the agents are more stable against failures and changes of control topologies. Research is necessary to prove these benefits. In this study, we introduce a design of a multiagent‐based voltage control system for low‐voltage grids. In detail we introduce cooperative decision‐making processes and software solutions that allow the agents to perceive and control their environment, the agent‐discovery and localization in different types of communication networks, agent‐to‐agent communication, and the integration of the multiagent system in existing grid‐control infrastructures. Furthermore, the study proposes how different existing technologies can be combined into an applicable multiagent‐based voltage control system: the Java/OSGi‐based OpenMUC framework allows a generic field–device interaction; peer‐to‐peer discovery and session establishment functionalities are combined with the agent communication defined by the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA). The ripple control‐signal technology is applied as a fallback communication between the agent and a central grid‐control center.

OJADEAC: An Ontology Based Access Control Model for JADE Platform

Java Agent Development Framework (JADE) is a software framework to make easy the development of Multi-Agent applications in compliance with the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) specifications. JADE propose new infrastructure solutions to support the development of useful and convenient distributed applications. Security is one of the most important issues in implementing and deploying such applications. JADE-S security add-ons are one of the most popular security solutions in JADE platform. It provides several security services including authentication, authorization, signature and encryption services. Authorization service will give authorities to perform an action based on a set of permission objects attached to every authenticated user. This service has several drawbacks when implemented in a scalable distributed context aware applications. In this paper, an ontology-based access control model called (OJADEAC) is proposed to be applied in JADE platform by combining Semantic Web technologies with context-aware policy mechanism to overcome the shortcoming of this service. The access control model is represented by a semantic ontology, and a set of two level semantic rules representing platform and application specific policy rules. OJADEAC model is distributed, intelligent, dynamic, context-aware and use reasoning engine to infer access decisions based on ontology knowledge.

Design and Implementation of Real-Time Intelligent Control and Structure Based on Multi-Agent Systems in Microgrids

By consulting various worldwide definitions of microgrids and distributed energy, this study presents a microgrid-structured multi-agent system and uses Matlab/Simulink to construct a circuit with microgrid features, which enables the changes in each electrical source and load in the microgrid to be monitored and controlled. This multi-agent system adheres to the Java Agent Development Framework (JADE) platform specifications of the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA), facilitating communication, information transfers, and the receipt of real-time information regarding the microgrid and each component in the microgrid. Furthermore, the real-time state in the microgrid can be correspondingly controlled, achieving the most efficient real-time monitoring and control for electrical sources and load management in the microgrid.

Mathematical Models of Coordination Mechanisms in Multi-Agent Systems


 
 
 The good performance of a set of computer systems based on agents depends on the coherence degree and coordination between their activities. The study of coordination problem is an important topic for designers and researchers in the multi-agents systems field. There are several coordination mechanisms in the current literature, being the auction and the contract net the most popular ones. These mechanisms allow the agents to allocate resources and tasks to achieve their objectives. This paper aims to present formal models of the auction and the contract net as coordination mechanisms in multi-agents systems based on FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents) Protocols. Mathematical equations describe the different parameters characterizing the auction and the contract net mechanisms; they allow define a generic structure of each mechanism and groups of agents can create several instances of them to coordinate their needs.
 
 

A bio-inspired mobile agent-based integrated system for flexible autonomic job shop scheduling

This paper presents a bio-inspired mobile agent-based integrated system for flexible autonomic job shop scheduling. The system matches the autonomic system architecture, inspired by the autonomic nervous system and proposed by the IBM, and has the IBM-defined fundamental self-managing properties, so that it can manage itself with little human intervention. The system conforms to the IEEE FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents) standard. Therefore, the interoperability between agents of the system and agents from many active heterogeneous FIPA compliant agent platforms can be ensured. The system supports the execution of C/C++ mobile agent codes. Thus, it is applicable to a variety of applications, especially for distributed mechatronic and embedded systems. In addition, since the system is composed of agents, including stationary and mobile agents, the system has a high scalability and flexibility to integrate and adopt various scheduling models and algorithms for different scheduling requirements. An overall architecture of the system and critical implementation details about the agency and agents in the system are presented in this article. An energy saving job shop scheduling example is used to validate one autonomic property of the system.

A collection of method fragments automated with model transformations in agent-orientedmodeling

The Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) Methodology Technical Committee recommends the method engineering approach for Multi-agent System (MAS) development. This approach consists in defining method fragments for agent-oriented software engineering, and then developers combine these fragments to define customized development processes. In this line of research, the contribution of this paper is a collection of novel method fragments that are assisted with model transformations, in order to allow engineers to better develop MASs in an automated way. Some of these fragments also include explicit advices for incorporating artificial intelligence in the development. In the experiments, two processes have been composed with these method fragments for two different agent-oriented methodologies (i.e. Ingenias and Adelfe). This paper shows how these processes are respectively used to develop two known MASs (i.e. Delphi MAS and Timetable MAS). Furthermore, the presented approach is evaluated with 24 developers that were randomly divided into two groups. Each developer designed a MAS satisfying the same common requirements. One group applied the current approach, while the other group did not. The results show that this approach reduces the 63.3% of the designing time in average forMASs.

Communication and migration of an embeddable mobile agent platform supporting runtime code mobility

In this paper we present the design and the implementation of Mobile-C, an IEEE Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) compliant agent platform for mobile C/C++ agents. Such compliance ensures the interoperability between a Mobile-C agent and other agents from heterogeneous FIPA compliant mobile agent platforms. Also, the Mobile-C library was designed to support synchronization in order to protect shared resources and provide a way of deterministically timing the execution of mobile agents and threads. The new contribution of this work is to combine the mechanisms of agent migration and their synchronization.

A New Modified CNP for Autonomous Microgrid Operation Based on Multiagent System

This paper presents a new modified Contract Net Protocol (CNP) for microgrid operation based on multiagent system. The CNP is a widely used protocol for interactions among distributed problem solving. The Contract Net Interaction Protocol of the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA-CNIP) is a minor modification of the original CNP for multiagent system applications. In this paper, a modified CNP (MCNP) based on the FIPA-CNIP is proposed for more specialized interactions among agents for microgrid operation. A multiagent system is designed and constructed for microgrid operation. A microgrid operation based on the multiagent system is tested to check the functionality of the proposed MCNP.

A secure migration process for mobile agents

AbstractThis article describes a decentralized secure migration process of mobile agents between Mobile‐C agencies. Mobile‐C is an IEEE Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) standard compliant multi‐agent platform for supporting C/C++ mobile and stationary agents. Mobile‐C is specially designed for mechatronic and factory automation systems where malicious agents may cause physical damage to machinery and personnel. As a mobile agent migrates from one agency to another in an open network, the security concern of mobile agent systems should not be neglected. Security breaches can be minimized considerably if an agency only accepts mobile agents from agencies known and trusted by the system administrator. In Mobile‐C, a strong authentication process is used by sender and receiver agencies to authenticate each other before agent migration. The security framework also aims to guarantee the integrity and confidentiality of the mobile agent while it is in transit. This assures that all agents within an agency framework were introduced to that framework under the supervision and permission of a trusted administrator. The Mobile‐C Security protocol is inspired from the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, which avoids a single point of failure since it does not rely on a singular remote third party for the security process. In this protocol, both agencies must authenticate each other using public key authentication, before a secure migration process. After successful authentication, an encrypted mobile agent is transferred and its integrity is verified by the receiver agency. This article describes the Mobile‐C secure migration process and presents a comparison study with the SSH protocol. The performance analysis of the secure migration process is performed by comparing the turnaround time of mobile agent with and without security options in a homogeneous environment. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Development and Specification of a Reference Model for Agent-Based Systems

Agent-based systems have been the object of intense research over the past decade. While great theoretical progress has been made, the software frameworks for creating agent-based systems offer considerable variability in their capabilities and functionality. This paper introduces a reference model for agent-based systems. The purpose of a reference model is to provide a common conceptual basis for comparing systems and driving the development of software architectures and other standards. The Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents and other groups have advanced a number of agent standards, yet, to date, no comprehensive reference model has been presented for software systems composed of agents. This paper provides an overview of a reference model for agent-based systems. The agent systems reference model is the result of a multiyear effort studying software systems built with agents and software frameworks for implementing these systems. As part of this study, the team applied software reverse engineering techniques to perform static and dynamic analysis of operational agent-based systems. This analysis enabled identification of key common concepts across over one dozen different agent frameworks. To demonstrate its applicability, the reference model is then used to analyze a number of complete agent-based software systems. It is the belief of the authors that the reference model will be an essential prerequisite for future transition, deployment, and integration of agent-based systems.

The RBVO Formation Protocol

The proposed protocol has been designed to support the flexible formation of Request-Based Virtual Organisations (RBVOs) with an emphasis on reflecting the conditions of real competitive environments. It supports automated or semi-automated negotiations mainly in the creation part of a Virtual Organisation (VO) life cycle and it accounts for the use of Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The protocol consists of three phases: (1) potential partner search, (2) negotiation of SLAs and the RBVO establishment, and (3) RBVO (execution and) dissolution. The protocol complies with Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) standards and it has been utilised in the multiagent prototype in a real industrial case. The prototype has been implemented on top of a web-service-based agent platform.