Thorsten Scholz

An integration method for the specification of rule-oriented mediators

Mediator specification and terminology development are two labor-intensive tasks that are serious obstacles to the widespread use of mediator-based systems. In this paper, we propose a three-step approach to acquire mediator specifications and to gradually build a domain terminology at the same time. The approach also allows the support of software assistants, which help a user to acquire and verify the semantics of information sources. We have implemented a first prototype. The integration approach (without the assistants) is currently being evaluated by some users. Furthermore, we have started the development of a second prototype which will include the couple of assistants mentioned in this article.

From Agents to Multiagent Systems

In the previous chapter agents and their properties have been introduced. In real-world business applications, it is assumed that the benefit of agent technology is reached by dynamic interaction of autonomous agents. This interaction and co-operation forms a multiagent system (“MAS”). The organization of agents within such systems is strongly related to organization theory. The specific flexibility of MAS arises from the ability to follow predefined structures or evolve structures from dynamic interaction. In this chapter, fundamental concepts and properties of MAS are introduced with special focus on interaction and communication, roles, and structures.

Integrated Process Planning and Production Control

This chapter deals with the application of intelligent software agents to improve information logistics in the area of process planning and production control. Therefore, enterprises will be able to fulfill the requirement of flexible, reliable and fault-tolerant manufacturing. Fulfillment of these requirements is a prerequisite for successful participation in modern business alliances like supply chains, temporal logistics networks and virtual enterprises. Thus, agent-based improvements of information logistics enable enterprises to face the challenges of competition successfully. Conducted research activities focused on the development of agent-based systems for integrated process planning and production control. They led to the “IntaPS” approach which is presented in this chapter.

From Testing to Theorem Proving

Verification and validation of software systems are essential aspects in the software development life-cycle. However, verifying AI software is difficult as it suffers from non-determinism. In multiagent systems, this problem is increased by the known problems of verifying concurrent, distributed or object-oriented systems. On the basis of challenges for verification of multiagent systems, approaches for testing, runtime monitoring, static analysis, model checking, and theorem proving are discussed.

Capability-based emerging organization of autonomous agents for flexible production control

Abstract Flexible structures in the manufacturing domain are of increasing concern. Nowadays, distributed systems for the coordination, management, and control of highly heterogeneous manufacturing structures are under research and development. However, their flexibility is restricted by two main aspects: On the one hand, in the design step of the system designers are implementing mostly static communication and reasoning skills for distributed software systems. On the other hand, knowledge on solutions provided by machine tools are implemented implicitly, i.e., the software system representing a machine tool can only reason on capabilities for a solution with respect to the capabilities implemented by the designer. In this paper we will propose an innovative approach to dynamic capability management enabling software agents to reason on their capabilities and dynamically create capabilities as solutions.

An agent architecture for ensuring quality of service by dynamic capability certification

Agents and web services encapsulate key functionalities and therefore offer a high degree of flexibility and scalability. Semantic web services integrate explicit service descriptions with formal semantics allowing for reasoning on service discovery, chaining, and application. The key challenge here is the identification of appropriate services, which is supported by research on semantic web services. However, problems with assessing quality of service just start to begin when services have been discovered. In this paper, we will propose an agent-based approach for third-party quality of service certification enabling reliable distributed problem solving which is evaluated prototypically.

The Engineering Process

Engineering highly flexible software systems for real-world applications on the basis of intelligent agents and multiagent systems is a challenging task. Conventional software engineering provides established methodologies and tool support. Additionally, knowledge engineering captures the necessary aspects of integrating knowledge in intelligent agents. However there is still a gap between software and knowledge engineering methodologies. State-of-the-art approaches of agent-oriented software engineering partially integrate these approaches. Nevertheless, challenges for the engineering process of agent technology remain open and therefore are addressed in this section on agent engineering.

NETDEMO: openNet networked agents demonstration

One of the most significant challenges in applying agent technologies lies in deployment of agent systems in large-scale open environments. The objective of the NETDEMO demonstration is to show a range of agent applications which have been deployed and made accessible over multiple sites accessible via the public Internet. Demonstration are based on FIPA Agent, W3C Web Services and Semantic Web standards - covering a range of application areas from experimental games to travel/tourism and e-Business supply chains.Systems are visualized together using the openNet network infrastructure.

Towards Reliable SOA --- An Architecture for Quality Management of Web Services

Service-oriented architectures are a new paradigm for business information systems. Providing flexible interfaces, dynamic reconfiguration of software systems, i.e., business information systems, becomes possible during runtime. However, there are critical issues in quality management of the resulting systems. In this paper we will discuss challenges in testing resp. ensuring quality of service of dynamically orchestrated systems and present approaches to automated certification of service-oriented architectures.

Qualitätssicherung serviceorientierter Architekturen

Serviceorientierte Architekturen ermoglichen durch ihre flexiblen Schnittstellen die dynamische Rekonfiguration von Softwaresystemen oder Geschaftsprozessen. Innerhalb dieses Beitrags werden Herausforderungen an die Qualitatssicherung bzw. an Prufverfahren fur diese Art dynamischer Systeme diskutiert und Ansatze zur automatisierten Gestaltung serviceorientierter Architekturen vorgeschlagen.