Handling temporal constraints in interaction protocols for intelligent multi-agent systems

Abstract

Abstract This research focuses on handling temporal constraints in interaction protocols for multi-agent systems. There is a dire need of standardized interaction protocols that can be used to handle timing aspects in real-time multi-agent system’s negotiation. The most commonly used Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents Protocol lacks the appropriate specification in this regard. In real-time systems timing constraint is a major concern for all of its tasks and goals. Agents require real-time responses and must eliminate the possibility of massive communication between them. The timing specification of these real-time multi-agent systems in which agents communicate with each other to achieve their goals within deadline will be of great value for their correct functioning. A high degree of dependability and predictability is expected from real-time software agents. The basis of our work is the standardized interaction protocols to support the communication between agents in real-time environment and this is possible via message passing. By incorporation of well-defined timing parameters in Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents performatives, we have enabled them to be used in any real-time multi-agent’s communication. We demonstrate the usage and effectiveness of our proposed real-time performatives using a case study of monitoring boats in marine reserves in which the agents interact with each other to accomplish their goals.