Distributed secure agent platform for crisis management

Abstract

This article proposes a mobile agent platform based on Jini services deployed over IP-based networks. The role of agents in the proposed architecture is primarily coordinated collection of information. The overall agent infrastructure is designed as a secure, robust and fail resistant system. Trust for agents can be based on a special hardware module which provides trusted computing functionality. In the article we describe such architecture in terms of requirements and design. Core agent types are proposed to access different kinds of distributed resources. Specialized agents for access to legacy information sources, communication with end-users and configuration of IP-based network devices are described. We conclude with current state of the architecture implementation and with further plans concerning the development of the described architecture.