About cookies on this site Our websites require some cookies to function properly (required). In addition, other cookies may be used with your consent to analyze site usage, improve the user experience and for advertising. For more information, please review your options. By visiting our website, you agree to our processing of information as described in IBM’sprivacy statement. To provide a smooth navigation, your cookie preferences will be shared across the IBM web domains listed here.
Publication
AAMAS 2005
Conference paper
A comparative evaluation of agent location mechanisms in large scale MAS
Abstract
Agents in open multi-agent systems (MAS) need means for locating other agents with which they may collaborate. To address this need, several agent location mechanisms were suggested. Two major approaches dominate agent location mechanisms: a centralized approach using middle agents, and a distributed, peerto-peer approach. Agent designers, when designing agents to be part of open MAS, should consider these approaches, to provide the agents with appropriate agent location capabilities. However, selecting an agent location approach, let alone a specific solution, is a nontrivial task. In this study we address this difficulty. We perform a systematic comparative evaluation of agent location approaches. We measure the performance of these approaches subject to various MAS configurations. We draw conclusions regarding the conditions in which each approach is preferable. Prior evaluations fall short in addressing realistic MAS settings. In particular, our evaluation is the first to examine scalability of agent location mechanisms in terms of both system size (thousands of agents) and network distribution (over multiple hosts). We present advantages and shortcomings of the examined approaches. Copyright 2005 ACM.