Paper title:

Multi Agent Systems to Set Up Virtual Enterprises

Published in: Issue 1, (Vol. 2) / 2008
Pages: 15-23
Author(s): Lupu Catalin, Lupu Valeriu
Abstract. This work presents a model of organizing more enterprises into a virtual or a web enterprise. To constitute virtual enterprises multiagent systems are utilized. In this sense the following are to be considered: elaborating a model to constitute the virtual enterprise, the implementation of a multiagent system based on this model and the testing and evaluation of the system performances, comparing them with more classic types of realization. In this paper, we describe how the multi-agent architecture can be used to support Virtual Enterprises (VE). We have focused on understanding how aVE is formed and, in particular, how the partners of a VE are selected. We tryto analyse this scenario in the form of an Agent Interaction Protocol (AIP) and then discuss how the multi-agent architecrure can be used to support this process. Our working definition of a VE is: a team of partners that collaborate to achieve a specific goal. The partners may be human beings, organisations or software agents. We believe that software agents, hereafter referred to as agents, are a suitable means of representing the partners of a VE. One important reason is that by representing the partners of a VE as agents and by delegating agents to look for the next VE and conduct the negotiation on behalf of the partners, the partners would then have the time to do the actual work required in the current VE. At the end of the paper we will present an experimental system for the architecture of a virtual enterprise.
Keywords: Multi Agent Systems, Virtual Enterprises, Software Agents
References:

1. I. Andone - Arhitecturi pentru afaceri electronice bazate pe agenţi inteligenţi în Revista Economică, Nr. 3, Dec 2001;

2. B. Bauer - UML Class Diagrams Revisited in the Context of Agent-Based Systems., Proceedings AOSE 2001, Montreal;

3. S. Chalmers, P. Gray, A. Preece - Supporting Virtual Organizations using BDI Agents and Constraints, Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Cooperative Information Agents VI, p. 226 – 240, 2002;

4. K. Fischer, J.P. Muller, I. Hemig, A. Scheer - Intelligent Agents in Virtual Enterprises, Proc. Of the First International Conference and Exhibition on the Practical Application of Intelligent Agents and Multi-agent Technology, 1996, p. 205-214;

5. P. Faratin, C. Sierra, N.R. Jennings - Negotiation Decision Functions for Autonomous Agents, Int. Journal of Robotics and Autonomous Systems 24 (3-4) 159-182;

6. B. Morgan - CORBA meets Java, JavaWorld octombrie 1998 online.;

7. http://www.javaworld.com/jw-10-1997/jw-10- corbajava.html;

8. E. Oliveira, A.P. Rocha - Agents’ Advanced Features for Negotiation in Electronic Commerce and Virtual Organizations Formation Process, European Perspective on Agent Mediated Electronic Commerce, Springer Verlag, 2000;

9. S.A. Petersen, M. Gruninger - An agent-based Model to Support the Formation of Virtual Enterprise, International ICSC Symposium on Mobile Agents and Multi-agents in Virtual Organization and E-commerce (MAMA 2000), Woolongong, Australia, 2000;

10. S. A. Petersen, M. Divitini - Using Agents to Support the Selection of Virtual Enterprise Teams, Proceedings of Fourth International Bi-Conference Workshop on AgentOriented Information Systems (AOIS-2002), Bologne, Italy, July 2002;

11. N. Szirbick, H. Wortman, D. Hammer, J. Goosenaerts, A. Aerts - Mediating Negociations in a Virtual Enterprise via Mobile Agents, AIWoRC’2000: Mobile Technologies and Virtual Enterprises, 2000;

12. Szirbik, D.K. Hammer, J. Goosenaerts, A. Aerts - Mobile Agent Support for Tracking Products in Virtual Enterprises, în The Working Papers of the Workshop of Agent-based Decision-Support for Managing the Internet Enabled Supply-Chain, p. 93-100, Seattle, 1999;

13. K. Sycara, M. Paolucci, M. Van Velsen, J. Giampapa - The RETSINA MAS Infrastructure, special communication in Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, Volumul 7, July, 2003;

14. M. Wooldridge, N.R. Jennings, D. Kinny – The GAIA Methodology for Agent-Oriented Analysis and Design, Journal of Autonomous Agents and MAS 3, 2000;

15. M. Kang, L. Wang, K. Taguchi - Modelling Mobile Agent Applications in UML2.0 Activity Diagrams, Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Software Engineering for Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems, IEE, pp104-111, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2004.

Back to the journal content
Creative Commons License
This article is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Home | Editorial Board | Author info | Archive | Contact
Copyright JACSM 2007-2024