通用的移动Agent通信框架设计

移动Agent的通信机制应满足位置透明性、可靠性、高效性、异步性、自适应性等需求.提出一种通用的移动Agent通信框架,以支持在各种应用需求下的移动Agent通信协议的设计.该框架基于一种灵活的信箱机制,为每个移动Agent分配一个信箱作为消息缓冲,同时允许Agent及其信箱相互分离,独立迁移.在此基础上提出的三维通信框架不仅涵盖了现有的常用通信机制,还支持新的通信协议的设计.通过实验分析了框架的设计参数选择对协议性能的影响,分析结果对框架的应用有一定的指导意义.

Design of a Generic Framework for Mobile Agent Communication

Message delivery protocols are among the most important mechanisms in a mobile Agent system since cooperating mobile Agents need to communicate with each other. In this paper, a generic framework is presented for designing mobile Agent message delivery protocols. The framework uses a flexible and adaptive mailbox-based scheme, which associates each mobile Agent with a mailbox while allowing the decoupling between them, i.e., a mobile Agent can migrate to a new site without bringing its mailbox. By separating the concerns of locating the mailbox of a mobile Agent and delivering a message to the Agent, a large space of protocol design with flexibility is obtained. Using a three-dimensional model based on the scheme, the generic framework not only covers, as particular cases, several known protocols, but also allows for the design of new ones suited for various application requirements. By extensive simulation experiments, trade-offs between design parameter selection and their impact on the performance of derived protocol are analyzed. The conclusion of analysis can be used to guide applications of the framework.