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To enable requester
agents to find provider agents in environments with heterogeneous
and dynamic information services, we have developed middle
agents, which serve to increase agent
interoperability.
To enable
requester agents to find and communicate with agents operating
in different multi-agent systems (MASs), we have developed
multi-agent system interoperability. Multi-agent system interoperability
allows heterogeneous agents to communicate across multiple
systems and achieve designated goals, on a dynamic basis.
In particular,
in the TIE3 Demo, we have demonstrated
the interoperability of the RETSINA agent architecture and
the Open Agent Architecture (OAA), by means of the the multi-agent
system Interoperator. The Interoperator serves as a two-way
translation and messaging agent, allowing for the agents of
both systems to communicate.
In TIE3,
the Messenger, receiving requests
from within RETSINA, passes requests to available RETSINA
information agents (e.g., Flight Agent, Weather Agent), and
simultaneously, to the Interoperator. The Interoperator translates
the messages for OAA communication, and passes the translated
messages to the Facilitator, the middle
agent within OAA. The OAA Facilitator then sends the requests
to the appropriate agents within the OAA, receives replies,
and returns replies back to the Interoperator. The Interoperator
returns translated replies to the Matchmaker for redistribution
within RETSINA.
Thus,
TIE3 demonstrates, among other things, the interoperability
of MAS's, or the ability of agent technology to solve the
problems of architectural specificity in distributed computing.
Below
is a Demo display of the TIE3 configuration with a sample
message path:
For more
information on MAS interoperability, see J. Giampapa, M. Paolucci,
and K. Sycara,
"Agent Interoperation Across Multiagent System Boundaries",
in Proceedings of Agents 2000, Barcelona, Spain, June
3-7, 2000.
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