Meta-Reasoning For a Distributed Agent Architecture

Dr. David Chelberg, Dr. Lonnie Welch, Arvind Lakshmikumar, Matthew Gillen, Qiang Zhou
Laboratory for Intelligent, Real-Time and Secure Systems
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Ohio University, School of Engineering and Technology.
Athens, OH  45701

January 19,2000

Abstract:

Agent based computing offers the ability to decentralize computing solutions by incorporating autonomy and intelligence into cooperating, distributed applications. It provides an effective medium for expressing solutions to problems that involve interaction with real-world environments and allows modelling of the world state and its dynamics. This model can be then used to determine how candidate actions affect the world, and how to choose the best from a set of actions. Most agent paradigms overlook real-time requirements and computing resource constraints. In this paper, we discuss the application of agent based computing to RoboCup and examine methods to improve it. In particular, we discuss the incorporation of a meta-level reasoning mechanism that handles individual agent organization, plan generation, task allocation, integration and plan execution. We also propose an architecture where a meta-agent is further enhanced by combining it with system-level resource allocation and optimization. The approach adopted by us unifies agent based computing with adaptive resource management for dynamic real-time systems. The goal is to build and implement a distributed, intelligent, agent based system for dynamic real-time applications.