Exception Handling in Coordination-Based Mobile Environments

Iliasov, Alexei; Romanovsky, A

doi:10.1109/compsac.2005.73

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…As replication is transparent to programmers, our exception handling system can easily be compared with other existing EHSs. Various proposals address the issues related to exception handling for active objects integrating asynchronous communication [2,10,3,8,13,14,15,1]. Our solution is original in that it combines the following features: handling of request / response interactions between agents, handling of agent replicas, encapsulation and reactivity, ability to write context-dependent dynamic scope handlers (callercontextualization), ability to coordinate and control groups of active agents collaborating to a common task, ability to configure the exception propagation policy by defining exception resolution functions at the service level.…”

Section: Conclusion and Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specification of an exception handling system for a replicated agent environment

Dony

Tibermacine

Urtado

et al. 2008

Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Exception Handling

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Exception handling and replication are two mechanisms that increase software reliability. Exception handling helps programmers control situations in which the normal flow of a program execution cannot continue. Replication handles system failures. Exceptions handling and replication do not apply in the same way to the same situations and thus are two complementary mechanisms to increase software reliability. The paper proposes a specification of an execution history oriented exception handling system for an agent language and middleware providing replication. This paper proposes an original signaling algorithm adapted to replicated agents and a rationale of how exception handling and replication mechanisms can combine to increase programmers' capability to achieve reliable agent-based applications.

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Section: Conclusion and Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specification of an exception handling system for a replicated agent environment

Dony

Tibermacine

Urtado

et al. 2008

Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Exception Handling

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“…Paper [20] has an excellent discussion of the motivations and the design of a mechanism for inter-agent exception propagation. Paper [10] discusses an exception propagation mechanism designed specifically for mobile, asynchronous and anonymous agents. However this approach does not address many problems of cooperative recovery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formal development of cooperative exception handling for mobile agent systems

Laibinis

Troubitsynå

Iliasov

et al. 2008

Proceedings of the 2008 RISE/EFTS Joint International Workshop on Software Engineering for Resilient Systems

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Mobile agent systems often require sophisticated cooperation and coordination during error detection and recovery. In this paper we propose novel fault tolerance mechanisms that support co-operative exception handling in such systems. The paper demonstrates how mechanisms like these can be formally developed and analysed. We start with identifying the typical modes of failures in agents and analysing possible failure and recovery scenarios in mobile systems. Stepwise refinement is used as our formal framework for top-down development and verification. Using the framework we formally verify the essential model properties, such as interoperability, local and global state consistency and termination of error recovery. Our approach provides developers with formal generic patterns for incorporating fault-tolerance mechanisms into mobile agent systems. We also demonstrate how the results of our formal development can be instantiated and reused in developing real-world agent software. AbstractMobile agent systems often require sophisticated cooperation and coordination during error detection and recovery. In this paper we propose novel fault tolerance mechanisms that support co-operative exception handling in such systems. The paper demonstrates how mechanisms like these can be formally developed and analysed. We start with identifying the typical modes of failures in agents and analysing possible failure and recovery scenarios in mobile systems. Stepwise refinement is used as our formal framework for top-down development and verification. Using the framework we formally verify the essential model properties, such as interoperability, local and global state consistency and termination of error recovery. Our approach provides developers with formal generic patterns for incorporating fault-tolerance mechanisms into mobile agent systems. We also demonstrate how the results of our formal development can be instantiated and reused in developing real-world agent software. About the authorAlexei Iliasov is a Research Associate within the School of Computing Science, Newcastle University.Alexander Romanovsky is a Research Professor. He has been involved in a number of ESPRIT, FP and EPSRC/UK projects on system dependability within which a wide range of general fault tolerance mechanisms and architectures have been developed (DSoS, PDCS, DeVa, CaberNet, MAFTIA, ReSIST, DISCS, RODIN). He has been a co-investigator of two EPSRC/UK projects (DOTS and TrAmS). Now he is coordinating a major FP7 Integrated Project DEPLOY aiming to make major advances in engineering methods for dependable systems through the deployment of formal engineering methods in 5 sectors of European industry. His main interests are in fault tolerance, rigorous design of resilient systems, software architectures, exception handing, mobile agents and service oriented architectures. Suggested keywords FAULT TOLERANCE, FORMAL METHODS Formal development of cooperative exception handling for mobile agent systems ABSTRACTMobile agent systems often require so...

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“…It ensures nested system structuring and separates normal system behaviour from the abnormal one. Our analysis [7] shows that the existing Linda-based mobile environments do not provide sufficient support for development of fault tolerant mobile agent systems. The real challenge here is to develop general mechanisms that smoothly combine Linda-based mobility with exception handling.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[9,10]) are not explicitly developed to support data and behaviour encapsulation or isolation, which are crucial for error confining and recovery. None of them is directly applicable for dealing with mobile agents interacting using coordination spaces (see our analysis in [7]). Also, these schemes do not support the set of abstractions which we have identified as crucial for Cama.…”

Section: Cama Abstractionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On Developing Open Mobile Fault Tolerant Agent Systems

Arief

Iliasov

Romanovsky

Software Engineering for Multi-Agent Systems V

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Abstract. The paper introduces the Cama (C ontext-Aware M obile Agents) framework intended for developing large-scale mobile applications using the agent paradigm. Cama provides a powerful set of abstractions, a supporting middleware and an adaptation layer allowing developers to address the main characteristics of the mobile applications: openness, asynchronous and anonymous communication, fault tolerance, and device mobility. It ensures recursive system structuring using location, scope, agent, and role abstractions. Cama supports system fault tolerance through exception handling and structured agent coordination within nested scopes. The applicability of the framework is demonstrated using an ambient lecture scenario -the first part of an ongoing work on a series of ambient campus applications. This scenario is developed starting from a thorough definition of the traceable requirements including the fault tolerance requirements. This is followed by the design phase at which the Cama abstractions are applied. At the implementation phase, the Cama middleware services are used through a provided API. This work is part of the FP6 IST RODIN project on Rigorous Open Development Environment for Complex Systems.

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Exception Handling in Coordination-Based Mobile Environments

Cited by 12 publications

References 5 publications

Specification of an exception handling system for a replicated agent environment

Specification of an exception handling system for a replicated agent environment

Formal development of cooperative exception handling for mobile agent systems

On Developing Open Mobile Fault Tolerant Agent Systems

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