Agreements and Policies in Cooperative Mobile Agents: Formalization and Implementation

Organization of mobile agents into a group has appeared as a new paradigm for dynamic deployment of composite services. However, it has not been discussed how multiple mobile agents cooperate with each other, handling conflicts in their requirements. In response to this problem, this study proposes a model for cooperative mobility based on the notion of agreements. Agent behavior defined in the proposed model involves agreement establishment and enforcement for cooperative mobility. Such behavior can be customized only by specifying requirements/constraints of each agent, eliminating the necessity to write down the whole behavior to handle agreements. The model is described in a formal way, using Event Calculus, and it is proved the model leads to no occurrence of defined inconsistency. The model has been implemented on an existing agent framework, Freedia, combined with its dynamic partner management mechanism.

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