A distributed problem-solving approach to collaborative facility engineering

A framework for collaborative facility engineering is presented. The framework is based on a distributed problem-solving approach to collaborative facility engineering and employs an integration approach called Agent-Based Software Engineering as an implementation vehicle of this approach. The focal entity of this framework is a Multiagent Design Team (MDT) that comprises a collection of software agents (e.g. design software applications with a certain standard communication interface) and a design specialist, which together perform specific design tasks. Multiagent design teams are autonomous and form an organizational structure based on a federation architecture. Every multiagent design team surrenders its autonomy to a system program called facilitator, which coordinates the interaction among software agents in the federation architecture. Facilitators can be viewed as representatives of one or more teams that facilitate the exchange of design information and knowledge in support of the design tasks they perform. In the federation architecture, design specialists collaborate by exchanging design information with others via their software agents, and by identifying and resolving design conflicts by negotiation. In addition to a discussion of the framework's primary components, its realization in an integrated distributed environment for collaborative building engineering is described.     

基于Agents的软件合成框架ABFSC

通过软件合成来开发分布计算环境下的开放性集成化应用系统正在成为软件工程研究的新热点,软件体系结构的透明描述是支持软件合成的主要手段,但现行体系结构形式描述抽象程度太低,无法清晰说明软构件间的协作和语义互操作。     

An infrastructure to support cooperation of knowledge-level agents on the semantic Grid

Can a Knowledge-Level layer be located in the Semantic Grid infrastructure? Is it possible to design an Agent Communication Language (ACL) which enables Knowledge-Level agents to cooperate in a geographically distributed Semantic Grid despite nodes’ failures or malfunctions? This paper tries to address the above Semantic Grid challenges presenting an agent-based Open Service Architecture which integrates geographically distributed agents in a Semantic Grid. The architecture is well integrated with standard Internet components and technologies and supports communication among Knowledge-Level agents. The role of agents is to retrieve, execute and compose available services providing more sophisticated instances of them. Inter-agent communication is realized by exploiting an advanced Agent Communication Language which supports a fault-tolerant anonymous interaction protocol and satisfies a set of well defined Knowledge-Level programming requirements. Here, we present the design of the architecture and of the Agent Communication Language as well as their implementation. The architecture is evaluated by means of several case studies which highlight the main feature of our proposal. The main advantage of our approach is to demonstrate that different issues, such as high level inter-agent communication and fault tolerance, can be successfully integrated in Grid infrastructures which provide Web Services maintaining a clean design of the architecture and a Knowledge-Level characterization.     

Inside an agent

When we discuss agent-based system construction with software developers or ask students to implement common agent architectures using object-oriented techniques, we find that it is not trivial for them to create an elegant system design from the standard presentation of these architectures in textbooks or research papers. To better communicate our interpretation of popular agent architectures, we draw UML (Unified Modeling Language) diagrams to guide an implementer's design. However, before we describe these diagrams, we need to review some basic features of agents. The paper considers an architecture showing a simple agent interacting with an environment. The agent senses its environment, uses what it senses to choose an action, and then performs the action through its effectors. Sensory input can include received messages, and action can be the sending of messages. To construct an agent, we need a more detailed understanding of how it functions. In particular, if we are to build one using conventional object-oriented analysis and design techniques, we should know in what ways an agent is more than just a simple object     

The State of the Art in Agent Communication Languages

Like societies of humans, there is a need for agents in a multi-agent system to rely on one another, enlist the support of peers in order to solve complex tasks. Agents will be able to cooperate only through a meaningful communication language that can bear correctly their mental states and convey precisely the content of their messages. In search for the ideal agent communication language (ACL), several initiatives like the pioneering work of the Knowledge Sharing Effort and the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) are paving the way for a platform where all agents would be able to interact regardless of their implementation environment. ACL is a new field of study that could gain from a survey in expanding its application areas. For this purpose, we examine in this paper the state of the art in ACL design and suggest some principles for building a generalized ACL framework. We then evaluate some existing ACL models, and present the current issues in ACL research, and new perspectives. Received 22 July 1999 / Revised 23 March 2000 / Accepted 2 May 2000     

X-FEDERATE: a policy engineering framework for federated access management

Policy-based management (PBM) has been considered as a promising approach for design and enforcement of access management policies for distributed systems. The increasing shift toward federated information sharing in the organizational landscape, however, calls for revisiting current PBM approaches to satisfy the unique security requirements of the federated paradigm. This presents a twofold challenge for the design of a PBM approach, where, on the one hand, the policy must incorporate the access management needs of the individual systems, while, on the other hand, the policies across multiple systems must be designed in such a manner that they can be uniformly developed, deployed, and integrated within the federated system. In this paper, we analyze the impact of security management challenges on policy design and formulate a policy engineering methodology based on principles of software engineering to develop a PBM solution for federated systems. We present X-FEDERATE, a policy engineering framework for federated access management using an extension of the well-known role-based access control (RBAC) model. Our framework consists of an XML-based policy specification language, its UML-based meta-model, and an enforcement architecture. We provide a comparison of our framework with related approaches and highlight its significance for federated access management. The paper also presents a federation protocol and discusses a prototype of our framework that implements the protocol in a federated digital library environment.     

Engineering framework for agent-based manufacturing control

MAS (multi-agent systems) and HMS (holonic manufacturing systems) are enabling the vision of the Plug & Play Factory and paving the way for future autonomous production systems. This paper reviews the state of the art in implementations of agent-based manufacturing systems, and identifies the lack of engineering tools as a technological gap for widespread industrial adoption of the paradigm. The lack of tools limits the implementation of agent-based manufacturing systems within reach of only a handful of domain experts. One of the current challenges for the design and implementation of intelligent agents is the simulation and visualization of the agent societies. This issue is significant as soon as the software agent is embedded into a mechatronic device or machine resulting in a physical intelligent agent with 3D-mechanical restrictions. These mechanical restrictions must be considered in the negotiations between agents in order to coordinate the execution of physical operations. This paper presents an engineering framework that contributes towards overcoming the identified technology gap. The framework consists of a comprehensive set of software tools that facilitate the creation, simulation and visualization of agent societies. The 3D framework is innovative in fully emulating the deployed agents, recreating multi-agent negotiations and societies that coordinate and execute control of assembly operations. The documented research describes the methodology for the 3D representation of individual physical agents, the related identified objects present in the interaction protocols, and the assembly features and clustering algorithms.     

基于协作式客户机/服务器系统的可复用构架

文章通过一个协作式客户机/服务器软件系统的实例阐明了设计不同系统体系可复用扩展软件构架的一种方法。笔者提出的构架,将使用构架描述语言进行定义,通过软件复用的三个层次(独立于应用域的,领域特有的和应用特有的),有机地组织起来。构架由可复用领域的特定黑盒构架模式和可扩展领域的特定白盒构架模式组成。文章重点阐述了软件构架中复用的不同层次以及构架如何实现扩展。     

基于多Agent的家庭远程监护系统建模

介绍了一种基于家庭的远程监护系统整个体系结构。作为系统终端的机器人护理床协助完成部分护理工作；同时提供远程连续监测各项健康相关的生理参数信息，监护系统实时识别危险信息并发出报警信号；同时系统实现和已有的以医院为核心的健康服务体系整合。在此系统的设计过程中，应用了基于多Agent的软件工程建模方法。根据系统需求分析，辨识各Agent的角色和责任。应用统一建模语言（UML）的静态视图，分析得出表示Agent之间的关联关系的静态模型。通过分析系统工作流程，得出Agent之间的相互作用的动态模型。     

软件工程类属环境I—SEE的研制与开发

本文围绕研制一个大型综合软件工程支撑环境的有关工作,介绍了我们采用面向对象的软件方法开发智能化和集成化软件工程类属环境I_SEE所取得的主要结果.文章通过对I_SEE原型系统体系结构和概念模型的分析与介绍,比较详细地阐述了我们对有关软件智能化技术和集成化技术,以及软件工程类属环境等问题的认识.     

WCA：一种面向Web系统的通用组件架构

随着Web应用的爆炸式增长,面向Web的工程理论和方法研究得到了广泛的重视.本文针对Web工程应用中存在的通用架构设计和组件重用等问题,提出了一套灵活、可扩展的Web组件架构模型WCA,以及与之相辅的一套Web系统分析、设计、编码与测试的方法体系.     

A Simulation Framework for Heterogeneous Agents

We introduce a generic simulation framework suitable for agent-based simulations featuring the support of heterogeneous agents, hierarchical scheduling, and flexible specification of design parameters. One key aspect of this framework is the design specification: we use a format based on the Extendible Markup Language (XML) that is simple-structured yet still enables the design of flexible models. Another issue in agent-based simulations, especially when ready-made components are used, is the heterogeneity arising from both the agents' implementations and the underlying platforms. To tackle such obstacles, we introduce a wrapper technique for mapping the functionality of agents living in an interpreter-based environment to a standardized JAVA interface, thus facilitating the task for any control mechanism (like a simulation manager) because it has to handle only one set of commands for all agents involved. Again, this mapping is made by an XML-based definition format. We demonstrate the technique by applying it to a simple sample simulation of two mass marketing firms operating in an artificial consumer environment.     

形式描述语言COOZ的集成支撑环境COOZ—Tools

介绍支持面向对象的形式描述语言ＣＯＯＺ的集成支撑环境ＣＯＯＺ－Ｔｏｏｌｓ的设计原则、系统结构、功能、特点和关键的实现技术。ＣＯＯＺ是Ｚ语言的面向对象扩充,从而将形式化语言和面向对象机制有机结合起来。ＣＯＯＺ－Ｔｏｏｌｓ支持基于ＣＯＯＺ的软件开发,它主要由如下工具组成：规格说明编辑、浏览工具、语法语义检查工具、联机帮助工具、项目管理工具。     

基于COM/DCOM的构件组装工具的设计

软件构架技术的研究重点在于软件构架描述语言及其支持工具。该文通过对现有构架技术的研究，提出了基于COM／DCOM／标准组件技术来构造构件组装工具的相关技术，基于COM/DCOM构件的软件开发环境的设计，描述了一个原型系统SOLOSTUDIO。     

基于时序逻辑的面向方面体系结构描述语言

运用传统体系结构描述语言描述的软件体系结构(SA)方案始终存在着一些横切行为和特征,它们混杂和散列在不同的SA设计单元中,使得SA难以理解、难以演化和难以重用。针对这一问题,基于时序逻辑语言XYZ/E,在统一的时序逻辑框架下设计出一种面向方面体系结构描述语言AC2-ADL。系统地阐述了AC2-ADL的概念框架并用XYZ/E进行语义解释,最后结合案例介绍了如何用AC2-ADL对SA进行描述。     

Architecture layers and engineering approach for agent-based system

It is necessary to support user-centric service provision paradigm in distributed, dynamic and complex computing environment. Software agent technology is considered as one of the technologies suitable to adopt such computing environment. Many researchers have emphasized on agent-based system development, but, many agent-based systems are designed and constructed in ad hoc. In particular, they do not enough consider system organization and performance aspects. More systematic engineering approach of agent-based system is required. We propose the layered architecture and engineering approach for agent-based system design. We devise the layers necessary to design agent-based system, and methods to engineer each layer. Also we show that the devised approach can be used to design agent-based system and analyze system features. The layered architecture and engineering approach of agent-based system proposed in this paper support that engineer designs efficient agent-based system.     

A novel agent-based concept of household appliances

Mass production, such as white goods manufacturing, is traditionally bound to hierarchical factory-floor procedures and accepts only gradual changes in technology and product architecture. This paper introduces an idea on how to upgrade from classical to network-connected reconfigurable devices. A generic multi-agent architecture was created, derived from belief-desire-and-intention (BDI) agents. It covers all types of white goods in the form of rational home assistant, and enables reconfiguration of agent-based household appliances during the design, production and implementation phases. The introduced concept involves a multi-agent architecture which utilizes distributed processing power at different levels: higher-level agents run on more powerful devices than embedded appliance’s controllers, personal assistant (PDAs), or Windows or Linux based personal computers (PCs). PDAs can run a single agent, for example a GUI agent, whereas the embedded controllers execute lower-level device (embedded) agents. In this way, all the appliance’s basic functionality, such as its hardware units (e.g., electrical motors, valves, heaters, etc.), are initially simulated by auxiliary agents running together with higher-level agents on a PC or PDA. Using this simulator in the design phase, all vital functions and capabilities of the agent-based appliance under development are thoroughly tested first. Afterwards, the agents that simulate the device’s hardware units and environment are simply replaced by the communication to the corresponding device units. In such way, any new functionality or device’s behaviour can be upgraded any time just by adapting the core of the multi-agent architecture on the PC and individual agents on the PDA or the embedded agents in appliances. A thorough design and implementation cycle of the proposed solution using two freeware development tools is also described, i.e., the Prometheus agent design methodology and the agent simulation/execution environment called Jadex. The approach is exemplified by building a simulator of an agent-based household appliance, namely a Multi-agent Washing Assistant as a special instance of rational home assistant.     

一种基于UML的本体论建模方法

IFVO是一种基于Agent的虚拟组织集成框架。它采用本体论的方式来描述Agent之间协作所遵循的词汇集。该文采用UML作为IFVO本体论的建模语言，在利用IFVO进行企业建模的过程中，可先利用UML建立本体论模型，然后将其映射成IFVO的本体论标记语言OML。     

A service accountability framework for QoS service management and engineering

Service science, management and engineering (SSME) research is to study the methodology and technology for service innovation, design, development and delivery. Since service industry is very quality-sensitive and trust-dependent, we propose a service accountability management framework to detect, diagnose, defuse and disclose the root cause for any problematic service process. The accountability support is important for SSME since service processes often rely on external service providers to deliver part of the service functionalities. A service system must have effective yet efficient mechanisms to ensure that every external service is delivering a consistent and acceptable level of performance to meet the end-to-end quality of service (QoS) of the whole service process. In this paper, we present the accountability framework, identify the components in an accountable service architecture, and design an accountability diagnosis methodology. We also briefly present the inteLLigent Accountability Management Architecture (LLAMA) project which implements the accountability service bus (ASB), an agent-based middleware to support the monitoring, diagnosis, and reconfiguration of e-services. LLAMA ASB interacts with accountability agents to monitor services and the Accountability Authority to automatically diagnose faulty situations. The LLAMA technology is useful to ensure the QoS in SSME-based systems.