Information and knowledge exchange in a multi-agent system for stock trading

Abstract

A distributed problem solving system can be characterised as a group of individual agents running and co-operating with other agents to solve a problem. As dynamic domains such as stock trading are continuing to grow in complexity, it becomes more difficult to control the behaviour of agents in the domains where unexpected events can occur. This paper presented an information and knowledge exchange framework to support the distributed problem solving in the stock trading domain. It addresses two important issues: (1) How individual agents should be interconnected so that their capacities are efficiently used and their goals are accomplished effectively and efficiently; (2) How the information and knowledge transfer should take place among agents to allow them to respond successfully to user requests and unexpected situations in the outside world. The focus of this paper is dynamic knowledge exchange among MASST agents. The co-ordinator agent together with a decision enabling warehouse acting as a dynamic blackboard plus direct intercommunication among the agents enable facts, commands, and rules to be transferred between MASST agents. Knowledge can be exchanged among the agents by using a combination of facts, rules and commands transfers.