Service-Based Integration of Grid and Multi-Agent Systems Models

Abstract

Abstract. This position paper addresses the question of integrating GRID and MAS (Multi-Agent Systems) models by means of a service oriented approach. Service Oriented Computing (SOC) tries to address many challenges in the world of computing with services. The concept of service is clearly at the intersection of GRID and MAS and their integration allows to address one of these key challenges: the implementation of dynamically generated services based on conversations. In our approach, services are exchanged (i.e., provided and used) by agents through GRID mechanisms and infrastructure. Integration goes beyond the simple interoperation of applications and standards, it has to be intrinsic to the underpinning model. We introduce here an (quite unique) integration model for GRID and MAS. This model is formalized and represented by a graphical description language called Agent-Grid Integration Language (AGIL). This integration is based on two main ideas: (i) the representation of agent capabilities as Grid services in service containers; (ii) the assimilation of the service instantiation mechanism (from GRID) with the creation of a new conversation context (from MAS). The integrated model may be seen as a formalization of agent interaction for service exchange.

The Principle of Immanence in Event-Based Distributed Systems

“…Both domains share an approach based on SOA which enables to abstract the underlying technology behind a common concept: the service. Since then, a sustained research activity has attempted to formalise the mapping of GRID and MAS concepts [19,18]. This work opens new perspectives to specify immanent systems.…”

“…The wellknown MAS conceptual model Agent-Group-Role (AGR) emphasises on the characteristic of flexibility required for a self-organised organisation model [10]. Further to the suggestion for convergence between GRID and MAS concepts their integration has required an extensive effort with AGIL (Agent-GRID Integration Language) [19,18] to formalise the organisation and the interactions of distributed resources and agents and propose the service as a pivot concept. AGIL has been originally proposed in 2006 as an ontology [9], then has been developed more recently as a language.…”

Agora UCS Ubiquitous Collaborative Space

“…The integration of Agents [1,2,3,7] and Grid concepts [5,6] has been extensively modeled in [8]. Figure 1 represents the Agora UCS architecture which is based on a ternary relation between three concepts.…”

The Principle of Immanence in GRID-Multiagent Integrated Systems

“…Although, the integration of Grid SOA and MAS concepts has been proposed to enhance the potential of organising distributed resources and agents [10], this integration has required an extensive effort of formalisation with AGIL, the Agent-Grid Integration Language, that has been settled only a couple of years ago [6,16,15]. This formalisation has been used to abstract Grid and MAS concepts and develop new kind of architectures.…”