Java Agent Development Research Articles

Development of a Mas Based Distributed Intelligent Control and Fault Control Strategy for Microgrid

The technology of Multi-Agent-System (MAS) has a lot of attractive qualities such as proactivity, flexibility, reactivity and sociality. It is extensively established as the technology platform for implementing efficient and effective processes of management and automation within a microgrid platform. This paper presents the design and development of the microgrid system using MATLAB-Simulink software with multi-agent system platform. The JAVA agent development framework (JADE) is used for implementing MAS software. MAS consist of the three agents are distributed energy source agent, load agent and control agent. The distributed agent used to monitor and control the power level of the different energy sources in the microgrid. The load agent used to monitor the power consumption level of the consumer. The control agent used to control the power flow from energy source to load and also used for restructuring the power network based on abnormality of the system. To test the effectiveness of the developed system, simulation studies are carried out for different operating conditions of the microgrid system. From the test result, the developed system outperform in all aspect.

Isolated Microgrid Management Using a Multi-Agent System

Solar energy offers a considerable potential for the energy market and it brings many challenges for the actual research. In order to meet the economic and the environmental expectation, the management of an isolated microgrid needs to be more efficient and profitable. In this paper a Multi-Agent System (MAS) is proposed in order to manage an isolated photovoltaic microgrid. The proposed approach presented in this paper improves the management of an isolated decentralized microgrid. It takes in account load voltage constraints, ensures the power demand, reduces chattering phenomenon on the storage system, and it maintains the photovoltaic panel operating in its maximum efficiency point. Finally, the proposed method is evaluated throw three scenarios, and the results are obtained by simulation using MATLAB/Simulink and JADE (Java Agent Development Environment).

Enabling scalable and fault-tolerant multi-agent systems by utilizing cloud-native computing

Multi-agent systems (MAS) represent a distributed computing paradigm well suited to tackle today’s challenges in the field of the Internet of Things (IoT). Both share many similarities such as the interconnection of distributed devices and their cooperation. The combination of MAS and IoT would allow the transfer of the experience gained in MAS research to the broader range of IoT applications. The key enabler for utilizing MAS in the IoT is the ability to build large-scale and fault-tolerant MASs since IoT concepts comprise possibly thousands or even millions of devices. However, well known multi-agent platforms (MAP), e. g., Java Agent DE-velopment Framework (JADE), are not able to deal with these challenges. To this aim, we present a cloud-native Multi-Agent Platform (cloneMAP) as a modern MAP based on cloud-computing techniques to enable scalability and fault-tolerance. A microservice architecture is used to implement it in a distributed way utilizing the open-source container orchestration system Kubernetes. Thereby, bottlenecks and single-points of failure are conceptually avoided. A comparison with JADE via relevant performance metrics indicates the massively improved scalability. Furthermore, the implementation of a large-scale use case verifies cloneMAP’s suitability for IoT applications. This leads to the conclusion that cloneMAP extends the range of possible MAS applications and enables the integration with IoT concepts.

DARSV: a dynamic agent routing simulator for VANETs

In this paper, a novel dynamic agent routing simulator for vehicular ad-hoc networks (DARSV) is presented. The main purpose of DARSV simulator is to realise a successful large-scale simulation of agent based routing approach in vehicular networks. To conduct this goal, the proposed simulator combines the Java Agent DEvelopment (JADE) which is a powerful multi-agent system (MAS) framework with the dynamic ad hoc routing simulator (DARS) that takes into account the dynamic nature of environment networks. The simulation results are discussed to evaluate the efficiency and the performance of the proposed simulator.

A Secure Trust Method for Multi-Agent System in Smart Grids Using Blockchain

This paper proposes a blockchain based trust management method for agents in a multi-agent system (MAS). In this work, three objectives are achieved: trust, cooperation and privacy. The trust of agents depends on the credibility of trust evaluators, which is verified using the proposed methods of trust distortion, consistency and reliability. To enhance the cooperation between agents, a tit-3-for-tat (T3FT) repeated game strategy is developed. The strategy is more forgiving than the existing tit-for-tat (TFT) strategy. It encourages cheating agents to re-establish their trust by cooperating for three consecutive rounds of play. Also, a proof-of-cooperation consensus protocol is proposed to improve agents' cooperation while creating and validating blocks. The privacy of agents is preserved in this work using the publicly verifiable secret sharing mechanism. The proposed methods are implemented using MATLAB R2018a while the MAS is simulated using Java Agent DEvelopment framework (JADE). Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed work. From the simulation results, the proposed trust method outperforms an existing fuzzy logic trust method in terms of detecting the cheating behavior of agents in the system. Besides, the proposed T3FT strategy is effective as compared to the existing tit-for-2-tat and TFT strategies in the literature. Moreover, the security analysis of the proposed method is performed. The analysis shows that the proposed work is safe from bad-mouthing and on-off trust related attacks.

Multi-Agents for Microgrids

Microgrid systems are built to integrate a generation mix of solar and wind renewable energy resources that are generally intermittent in nature. This paper presents a novel decentralized multi-agent system to securely operate microgrids in real-time while maintaining generation, load balance. Agents provide a normal operation in a grid-connected mode and a contingency operation in an islanded mode for fault handling. Fault handling is especially critical in microgrid operation to simulate possible contingencies and microgrid outages in a real-world scenario. A robust agent design has been implemented using MATLAB-Simulink and Java Agent Development Framework technologies to simulate microgrids with load management and distributed generators control. The microgrid of the German Jordanian University has been used for simulation for Summer and Winter photovoltaic generation and load profiles. The results show agent capabilities to operate microgrid in real-time and its ability to coordinate and adjust generation and load. In a simulated fault incident, agents coordinate and adjust to a normal operation in 0.012 seconds, a negligible time for microgrid restoration. This clearly shows that the multi-agent system is a viable solution to operate MG in real-time.

An agent-based Flexible Manufacturing System controller with Petri-net enabled algebraic deadlock avoidance

This work focuses on the efficient design of a controller for a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) using Agents. The necessary agents were selected and defined according to the Design of Agent-based Production Control Systems (DACS) methodology. The Contract Net Protocol (CNP) was applied for agent communication and interaction. A particular Algebraic Deadlock Avoidance Policy (DAP) is efficiently embedded into CNP. As a result the multi agent system is live and deadlock–free. Feasibility analysis of the controller was performed by exploiting Resource Allocation Systems techniques being defined in the framework of Petri Net theory. The controller is demonstrated in simulation mode in the framework of the Java Agent Development Framework (JADE) system

Holonic agent-based approach for system-level remaining useful life estimation with stochastic dependence

ABSTRACT The emerging behavior in complex systems is more complicated than the sum of the behaviors of their constituent parts. This behavior involves the propagation of faults between the parts and requires information about how the parts are related. Therefore, the prognostic function at the system-level becomes a very tough task. Conventional approaches focus on identifying faults and their probabilities of occurrence. In complex systems, this can create statistical limitations for prognostic function where component fault relies on the connected components in the system and their state of degradations. In this paper, a new Holonic agent-based approach is proposed for system-level remaining useful life (S-RUL) estimation with different dependencies. As the proposed approach can capture fault/failure mode propagation and interactions that occur in the system all the way up through the component and eventually system level, it can work as an automatic testing-tool in reliability tasks. Through a numerical example, the implementation is done in Java Agent Development Environment with and without consideration of stochastic dependence. Results show that the indirect effect of influencing components has a massive impact on the S-RUL, and the impact of stochastic dependencies should not be ignored, especially in the early stages of the system design.

An Effort-Based Reward Approach for Allocating Load Shedding Amount in Networked Microgrids Using Multiagent System

An effort-based reward approach is proposed in this article for the allocation of load shedding amount in interconnected microgrids. In this article, effort is defined as the relative contribution of a microgrid to the network with respect to its capacity. In contrast to the absolute contribution-based reward methods, where smaller microgrids are discriminated, the proposed effort-based reward method provides a fair chance for microgrids of all sizes. Historic data of efforts of each microgrid are recorded and an index (effort index) is formulated. The effort index is used as a measure to allocate load shedding to microgrids during emergencies, where microgrids with higher effort indices receive lesser load shedding and vice versa. Different weights are defined for efforts of microgrids depending on the operation mode of the network due to the difference in the importance of power sharing in each mode. In addition, a reward compensation algorithm is devised to mitigate gaining of benefits for longer times while making lesser contributions. The proposed method is realized by using a multiagent system in java agent development framework (JADE) via agent communication language messages. The performance of the proposed method is compared with existing load shedding allocation algorithms, i.e., proportional method, bankruptcy Talmud rule, and absolute contribution-based reward methods.

Towards a next-generation production system for industrial robots: A CPS-based hybrid architecture for smart assembly shop floors with closed-loop dynamic cyber physical interactions

Given the multiple varieties and small batches, the production of industrial robots faces the ongoing challenges of flexibility, self-organization, self-configuration, and other “smart” requirements. Recently, cyber physical systems have provided a promising solution for the requirements mentioned above. Despite recent progress, some critical issues have not been fully addressed at the shop floor level, including dynamic reorganization and reconfiguration, ubiquitous networking, and time constrained computing. Toward the next generation production system for industrial robots, this study proposed a hybrid architecture for smart assembly shop floors with closed-loop dynamic cyber physical interactions. Aiming for dynamic reorganization and reconfiguration, the study also proposed modularized smart assembly units for the deployment of physical assembly processes. Enabling technologies, such as multiagent system (MAS), self-organized wireless sensor actuator networks, and edge computing, were discussed and then integrated into the proposed architecture. Furthermore, a multijoint robot assembly process was selected as a target scenario. Thus, an MAS was developed to simulate the coordination and negotiation mechanisms for the proposed architecture on the basis of the Java Agent Development Framework platform.

Multi-Agents System Implementation for Supply Chain Management Making-Decision

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a mutant and complex system which represents a competitive challenge that companies are facing. It aims to optimize the product, financial and information flows, that the company manages with its suppliers, retailers and customers. Existent computing technologies have some faults in complex systems modeling. Nevertheless, research works in multi-agent system (MAS) technology have shown that complex systems can be modeled in order to generate smart and efficient solutions. SCM is considered to be a MAS, where protagonists are represented by different agents. In addition, cooperation between actors in Agent-based SCM has been proven to be an effective mechanism for improving SCM performance. The aim of this paper is to provide a solution for decision-making problems in information systems used in SCM, where each phase in the SC has been developed as an agent allowing communication, coordination and negotiation among the agents to achieve business goals. The proposed MAS will be implemented using a Java Agent Development Framework (JADE) based on specific methods to enhance collaboration in the SCM.

RPMInter-work: a multi-agent approach for planning the task-role assignments in inter-organisational workflow

ABSTRACTWorkflow management is a core component of modern Enterprise Information Systems (EISs) infrastructure that automates the execution of critical business processes. One of the particular interests of the security community is how to ensure the completion of the workflow execution in the presence of authorisation constraints. These constraints present some restrictions on the users or the roles that are authorised to execute the workflow tasks. The goal is to enforce the legal assignments of access privileges to the executors of the workflow tasks. Despite the variety of approaches proposed in this context, an approach dedicated to the inter-organisational workflows is still missing. In this paper, we take a step towards this goal by proposing a multi-agent-based model, named RPMInter-Work (task-Role assignment Planning Model for Inter-organisational Workflow). Our approach aims to perform the planning of the task-role assignments in inter-organisational workflow in presence of authorisation constraints that are related to task-role assignments. In our research work, this planning problem is formulated as a DisCSP (Distributed Constraint Satisfaction Problem). Our proposed contribution is based on the requirements of inter-organisational workflows, in particular, the autonomy of the participating organisations and the respect of their privacy. A prototype of RPMInter-Work is implemented using JADE (Java Agent DEvelopment) platform and some evaluation results of this prototype are exposed in this paper.

Intelligent Optimization And Management System For Renewable Energy Systems Using Multi-Agent

<p>Hybrid energy systems(HES) using renewable energy sources are an interesting solution for power stand-alone systems. However, the energy management of such systems is very complex. This paper presents a Multi Agent System(MAS) framework applied to manage the flow of energy in a hybrid stand-alone system. The proposed system consists of photovoltaic panels and a wind turbine along with batteries as storage units. The proposed MAS architecture composed of different agents(photovoltaic agent, wind turbine agent, supervisor agent, load controller agent, and storage agent) was developed to manage the flow of energy between the energy resources and the storage units for an isolated house. The agent-approach for HES is explained and the proposed MAS is presented and a simulation model is developed in the java agent development environment(JADE). The system was tested with empty batteries and full batteries and results showed that the system could satisfy the load demand while maintaining the level of the batteries between 30%(minimum discharging rate) and 80%(maximum charging rate).</p>

PACA-ITS: A Multi-Agent System for Intelligent Virtual Laboratory Courses

This paper describes an intensive design leading to the implementation of an intelligent lab companion (ILC) agent for an intelligent virtual laboratory (IVL) platform. An IVL enables virtual labs (VL) to be used as online research laboratories, thereby facilitating and improving the analytical skills of students using agent technology. A multi-agent system enhances the capability of the learning system and solves students’ problems automatically. To ensure an exhaustive Agent Unified Modeling Language (AUML) design, identification of the agents’ types and responsibilities on well-organized AUML strategies is carried out. This work also traces the design challenge of IVL modeling and the ILC agent functionality of six basic agents: the practical coaching agent (PCA), practical dispatcher agent (PDA), practical interaction and coordination agent (PICA), practical expert agent (PEA), practical knowledge management agent (PKMA), and practical inspection agent (PIA). Furthermore, this modeling technique is compatible with ontology mapping based on an enabling technology using the Java Agent Development Framework (JADE), Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools (CTAT), and Protégé platform integration. The potential Java Expert System Shell (Jess) programming implements the cognitive model algorithm criteria that are applied to measure progress through the CTAT for C++ programming concept task on IVL and successfully deployed on the TutorShop web server for evaluation. The results are estimated through the learning curve to assess the preceding knowledge, error rate, and performance profiler to engage cognitive Jess agent efficiency as well as practicable and active decisions to improve student learning.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ethical Implications of Bridging Blockchain and Multi-Agent Systems

The agent based approach is a well established methodology to model distributed intelligent systems. Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) are increasingly employed in applications dealing with safety and information critical tasks (e.g., in eHealth, financial, and energy domains). Therefore, transparency and the trustworthiness of the agents and their behaviors must be enforced. For example, employing reputation based mechanisms can promote the development of trust. Nevertheless, besides recent early stage studies, the existing methods and systems are still unable to guarantee the desired accountability and transparency adequately. In line with the recent trends, we advocate that combining blockchain technology (BCT) and MAS can achieve the distribution of the trust, removing the need for trusted third parties (TTP), potential single points of failure. This paper elaborates on the notions of trust, BCT, MAS, and their integration. Furthermore, to attain a trusted environment, this manuscript details the design and implementation of a system reconciling MAS (based on the Java Agent DEvelopment Framework (JADE)) and BTC (based on Hyperledger Fabric). In particular, the agents’ interactions, computation, tracking the reputation, and possible policies for disagreement-management are implemented via smart contracts and stored on an immutable distributed ledger. The results obtained by the presented system and similar solutions are also discussed. Finally, ethical implications (i.e., opportunities and challenges) are elaborated before concluding the paper.

Comparison of Erlang/OTP and JADE implementations for standby redundancy in a holonic controller

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a comparison between two standby redundancy implementations within the context of a holonic controller for a manufacturing cell: using the Erlang/OTP programming framework and the JADE (Java Agent DEvelopment framework) multi-agent system (MAS) framework. Erlang (and its associated library OTP) contains several features that greatly simplify the implementation of standby redundancy. JADE is a popular MAS framework that has become the prevailing solution within academic research in holonic control. Both solutions implement standby redundancy using standard features of their respective frameworks. A case study comparison is performed using both quantitative and qualitative measures. The comparison shows that, for the case study, the Erlang/OTP implementation performs better than the JADE implementation for all the standby-redundant metrics: it achieves shorter changeover times, lower computational requirements overall, less computational and state synchronisation overhead, and greater fault handling flexibility. However, Erlang/OTP lacks the level of supporting communication and protocol infrastructure that is available in JADE due to JADE’s strong heritage within multi-agent systems.

Mobile Agent Security Based on Mutual Authentication and Elliptic Curve Cryptography

Mobile agent system is a satisfying solution for the implementation and maintenance of applications distributed over large-scale networks, this solution is very used in solving complex problems since they are autonomous, Intelligent, robust and fault- tolerant. Mobile agents have the capacity to migrate from one node to another all over the network allowing reduction in communication costs. Although they possess all these advantages, using them in distributed environment increases the threat to mobile agent security and during their mobility they can face different types of attacks such as of attacks like Replay attack, man-in-the-middle attack, Cookie theft attack, Offline password guessing attack, Stolen-verifier attack. In this paper we investigate the security of distributed mobile agent system. We propose a solution based on a secure Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) protocol to ensure mutual authentication and protect the agent from different known attacks. The implementation of the proposed solution is obtained using Java Agent Development Framework (JADE). Also, Binary serialization is used to establish a flexible portability of the agent. Finally, we present security and performance analysis, for our solution to secure mobile agent in distributed systems.

Modeling Agent-Oriented Methodologies for Landslide Management

One of the most fatal natural disasters in Batu City was a landslide. The percentage of casualties if directly affected by landslides is 47%. This number is quite large when compared to other natural disasters. Even though the potential of the tsunami is the biggest, when compared to the intensity of the occurrence, landslides are the most common and most often cause fatalities. One of the causes of many fatalities in natural disasters is the lack of preparedness management. For that reason the need to develop a technology that can support to reduce fatalities in landslides is needed. One of the technologies used to prevent the number of fatalities caused by natural disasters is to use multi-agent system. One of the advantages of an agent is use Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) models for building the Muiti-Agent Systems (MAS). The specific objective of this study was to model a simulated natural disaster landslide using the Prometheus Methodology. Evaluation is done by generating a model using jackCode and implementing it using the Java Agent Development Framework. The results of this study indicate that a model made using the Prometheus Methodology can be used as a simulation of natural disaster preparedness for landslides.

A Distributed Electricity Trading System in Active Distribution Networks Based on Multi-Agent Coalition and Blockchain

The prevalence of distributed energy resources encourages the concept of an electricity “Prosumer (Producer and Consumer)”. This paper proposes a distributed electricity trading system to facilitate the peer-to-peer electricity sharing among prosumers. The proposed system includes two layers. In the first layer, a multi-agent system is designed to support the prosumer network, and an agent coalition mechanism is proposed to enable the prosumers to form coalitions and negotiate electricity trading. In the second layer, a Blockchain based transaction settlement mechanism is proposed to enable the trusted and secure settlement of electricity trading transactions formed in the first layer. Simulations are conducted based on the java agent development environment to validate the proposed electricity trading process.

A Full Decentralized Multi-Agent Service Restoration for Distribution Network With DGs

The ever-growing requirement for reliability and quality of power supply suggests to enable self-healing features of smart distribution network using intelligent communication and control. In this article, a concept of fully decentralized multi-agent system (FDMAS) automation is proposed to build a unified restoration service framework for distribution network with distribution generators (DGs), where an FDMAS interaction mechanism is designed for establishing a reduced model which can significantly reduce the computational dimensions of service restoration. Furthermore, an FDMAS-based strategy is proposed for service restoration by combining network reconfiguration with intentional islanding; especially a network reconfiguration algorithm based on network flow model is presented, which, along with parameter justification, can mitigate the variations of loads and intermittence of DGs. The simulation studies are carried out on the 84-bus and 22-bus distribution system, respectively, using MATLAB and java agent development framework (JADE) simulation system and dynamic model test platform. The test results show that the proposed strategy can maximize restoration of out-of-service loads with minimum switching times and has an excellent performance on service restoration time.