多Agent系统中软构件的动态绑定机制及其操作语义

近年来,越来越多的以计算机网络为平台的应用系统表现出自主性、动态性、开放性和异构性的特点,这使得软件开发理论和技术需要从软件体系结构的角度对这类系统的开发提供支持.面向Agent的软件开发技术提供了高层和自然的抽象方式对软件系统进行分析和设计,但现有面向Agent的方法学将Agent Class或者Agent Type视为多Agent系统软件体系结构的软构件,与Agent之间的关系仅仅是实例化的关系,这难以满足复杂系统对动态性的需求.从软件体系结构的角度上分析了多Agent系统中软构件的形式和机制,将Caste作为软构件,并以此为基础提出了Caste与Agent之间的动态绑定关系,定义了支持该机制的4个基本操作:join,quit,activate和inactivate及其操作语义,用以来指导多Agent系统软件体系结构的设计和实现.

Dynamic Binding Mechanism and Its Operational Semantics of Component in Multi-Agent System

Recently, with the increasing complexity of applications based on network, many complex systems have appeared to be typically autonomous, open, dynamic, and heterotopous. These systems make current software theories and technologies confront with many challenges, one of which is that mechanisms need to be provided with these complex systems from the point view of software architecture. Agent technology provides higher level abstractions and more natural style, which is different from object orientation and well suited to tackle the complexity, to specify and design software systems. However, component and the relationship between component and agent in software architecture of multi-agent system (MAS) are understood from the perspective of object-orientation. Many existing agent-oriented methodologies see agent class or agent type as the component, but agent is still the instance of an agent class or agent type, which doesn't meet the requirement of the dynamic property of complex systems. In this paper, the motivation of component in software architecture of MAS is analyzed, a dynamic binding mechanism for the relationship between component and agent is proposed, four basic operations based on Caste: join, quit, activate and inactivate are put forward, and the operational semantics is defined, in order to implement the high-level model for MAS architectures.