Quality Assurance of Agent-Based and

Self-Managed Systems

Reiner Dumke Steffen Mencke Cornelius Wille

Ugfi\ CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group Boca Raton London New York

CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor Si Francis Group, an informa business

Contents Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Authors xv

Chapter 1 Software Agent Technology 1

1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Why Agent-Based Systems? 1 1.3 Basic Definitions 3 1.4 Agent Properties 5 1.5 Classifications of Agents 6 1.6 Basic Agent Architectures 10

1.6.1 Deliberative Agents 10 1.6.2 Reactive Agents 13 1.6.3 Hybrid Approaches 14

1.7 Multiagent Systems 15 1.8 Agent Interaction 17

1.8.1 Communication 18 1.8.1.1 Blackboard Technique for

Communication 18 1.8.1.2 Messages and Conversations

for Communication 19 1.8.1.3 Agent Communication Languages 20

1.8.2 Agent Cooperation 25 1.8.2.1 Collaboration 27 1.8.2.2 Coordination 27 1.8.2.3 Conflict Resolution 28

1.8.3 Agent Mobility 28 References 30

Chapter 2 Software Quality Assurance 37

2.1 Quality Assurance Basics 37 2.1.1 Quality Assurance of Software Systems 39 2.1.2 Quality Improvement of Software System

Development 41 2.1.3 Quality Assurance of System Development

Resources 45 2.2 Quality Measurement and Evaluation 47

2.2.1 Basics in Software Measurement 48 2.2.2 Measurement Methods and Processes 50

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VI Contents

2.3 Software Quality Assurance of Agent-Based Systems 53 2.3.1 General Quality Aspects of Software Agents 54 2.3.2 General Quality Aspects of Multiagent Systems

(MASs) 56 2.3.3 General Quality Aspects of MAS Development 59

References 62

Chapter 3 Agent Quality Measurement and Evaluation 65

3.1 Introduction 65 3.2 Review of Agent Measurement Examples 66

3.2.1 Performance Measurement by Sycara 66 3.2.2 Execution Time by Guichard and Ayel 67 3.2.3 Performance Simulation by Pham 67 3.2.4 Performance Evaluation by Sugawara et al 67 3.2.5 Monitoring and Recording Agent Performance

by Tambe 67 3.2.6 Performance Measurement by Rüssel and Norvig 68 3.2.7 Problem-Solving Performance by Joshi 68 3.2.8 Performance Analysis of Mobile Agents

by Kotzetal 69 3.2.9 Performance Measuring in Large Networks

by Wijata 71 3.2.10 RPC Performance by Kotz et al 72 3.2.11 Further Performance Evaluations 72 3.2.12 Influences of the Knowledge Granularity on the

Agent Performance by Ye and Tsotsos 72 3.2.13 Utility Evaluation by Tewari and Maes 73 3.2.14 Usability Level Determination by Develin and

Scott 73 3.2.15 Usability Measures by Caballero et al 74 3.2.16 Goal Evaluation by Norman and Long 75 3.2.17 Evaluation Function by Rüssel and Norvig 75 3.2.18 Support Evaluation by Yang and Choi 76 3.2.19 Fitness Evaluation by Loia and Sessa 76 3.2.20 Fitness Evaluation by Liu 76 3.2.21 Fitness Evaluation by Eymann 78 3.2.22 Service-Level Measurement by Bissei et al 78 3.2.23 Resource Allocation Simulation by Bredin et al 79 3.2.24 Cooperation Measurement by Klusch and Sycara 79 3.2.25 Distributed Decision Measurement of

Coordination by Barber 79 3.2.26 Coalition Value Estimation by Shehory et al 80 3.2.27 Communication Index by Pedrycz and Vokovich 80 3.2.28 Intelligence Factors by Hasebrook et al 81 3.2.29 Trust Measurement by Chang et al 82

Contents vii

3.2.30 Performance Estimation and Measurement of Computational Agents by Neruda and Krusina 82

3.2.31 Agent-Based IP Measurement by Kwittetal 84 3.2.32 Agent-Based Metric for Wireless Networks

by Chen and Chen 84 3.2.33 Replication-Based Agent Optimization

by Guessoum 85 3.2.34 Communication Learning for Agent

Communication by Fischer et al 85 3.2.35 Performance of Mobile Agent Tracking

by Gomez-Martinez et al 86 3.2.36 Efficiency of Chosen Measurement Aglet Agents

by Wille 86 3.2.37 Workbench for Agent Resource Usage Analysis

by Wille 88 3.3 Discussion 89 References 90

Chapter 4 Quality Measurement of Agent Systems 93

4.1 Introduction 93 4.2 Quality Measurement Approaches of a Multiagent

System (MAS) 94 4.2.1 Comparison of Communication by Pham 94 4.2.2 Communication Quality Evaluation

by Lukschandl 94 4.2.3 Risk Evaluation by Collins et al 95 4.2.4 Size Estimation by Evans et al 96 4.2.5 Load Management by Gustavsson 96 4.2.6 Coalition Evaluation by Katoh et al 97 4.2.7 Coordination Evaluation by Tolksdorf 97 4.2.8 The Simple Thread Language (STL)-Based

Simulation by Schumacher 98 4.2.9 MAS Information Model Simulation by Egashira

and Hashimoto 99 4.2.10 Analysis of Agent Populations by Liu 99 4.2.11 Business-to-Business (B2B) Model Performance

by Ouksel et al 100 4.2.12 Performance Measurement of Large Distributed

MASs by Helsinger 101 4.2.13 Measurement of Coordination Performance

by Ahn and Park 102 4.2.14 Performance Measurement in Telematics

by Gerber 102 4.2.15 Performance Measurement in

Telecommunication by Gibney et al 103

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4.2.16 Algorithm Performance Measurement by Patel et al 103

4.2.17 Performance Measurement Approach by Stojanov et al 104

4.2.18 Quality Evaluation of an MAS by Far 105 4.2.19 Scalability of an MAS by Rana and Stout 105 4.2.20 Performance Measurement by Cortese et al 107 4.2.21 A Metric for Trust in Agent Communities

by Weng et al 108 4.2.22 Benchmark-Based MAS Evaluation

by Zhang et al 108 4.3 Discussion 109 References Ill

Chapter 5 Quality-Based Development of Agent Systems 113

5.1 Introduction 113 5.2 Quality Measurement Examples of Multiagent System

(MAS) Development 113 5.2.1 Aspect-Oriented versus Pattern-Oriented MAS

Development by Garcia et al 113 5.2.2 Evaluation of MAS Based on the ROADMAP

Meta-Model by Juan and Sterling 116 5.2.3 Agent Framework Evaluation by Tambe,

Pynadath, and Chauvat 117 5.2.4 Unified Modeling Language (UML) and

Measurement Intentions by Bertolino, Dimitrov, Dumke, and Lindemann 119

5.2.5 Agent Communication Language Evaluation, Singh 121

5.2.6 Multiagent System Development Approach Evaluation by Lind 122

5.2.7 Development of Agent-Based Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) by Kernchen 123

5.2.8 MAS Paradigm Evaluation by Wong, Paciorek, and Moore 124

5.2.9 MAS Quality Measurement by Far 125 5.3 Measurement Evaluation of MAS Development

Resources 126 5.3.1 MAS Platform Evaluation by Ricordel and

Demazeau 126 5.3.2 Measurement Study of the JADE Platform

by Piccolo et al 126 5.3.3 Performance of Open-Source Multiagent

Platforms by Mulet et al 127

Contents ix

5.3.4 Evaluation of JAVA-Based Agent Technologies by Kernchen et al 128

5.3.5 Measurement of Agent Academy by Wille 129 5.3.6 Performance of Agent Location Mechanisms

by Ben-Ami and Shehory 130 5.3.7 Performance of Multiagent Learning Algorithms

by Panait and Luke 131 5.3.8 Middleware Evaluation by Poslad et al 132 5.3.9 Measuring Resource Usage for Self-interested

Agents by He 132 5.3.10 Measurement of DAML+OIL Ontologies

by Wille 133 5.4 Discussion 135 References 137

Chapter 6 Conclusions and Future Directions 139

6.1 Summary of the Current Situation 139 6.1.1 Quality Measurement of Software Agents 139

6.1.1.1 Measurement Situation of Agent Design Level 139

6.1.1.2 Measurement Situation of Agent Description Level 139

6.1.1.3 Measurement Situation of Agent Working Level 140

6.1.2 Quality Measurement of Agent Systems 140 6.1.2.1 Measurement Situation of Multiagent

System (MAS) Design Level 140 6.1.2.2 Measurement Situation of MAS

Description Level 141 6.1.2.3 Measurement Situation of MAS

Working Level 141 6.1.3 Quality Measurement of Agent Systems

Development 141 6.1.3.1 Measurement Situation of Agent

Development Life Cycle Level 141 6.1.3.2 Measurement Situation of Agent

Development Method Level 142 6.1.3.3 Measurement Situation of Agent

Development Management Level 142 6.1.3.4 Measurement Situation of MAS

Development Life Cycle 142 6.1.3.5 Measurement Situation of MAS

Development Method 142 6.1.3.6 Measurement Situation of MAS

Development Management Level 142

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6.1.3.7 Measurement Situation of Agent Developer Level 143

6.1.3.8 Measurement Situation of Agent Software Resources Level 143

6.1.3.9 Measurement Situation of Agent Hardware Resources Level 143

6.1.3.10 Measurement Situation of MAS Developer Level 143

6.1.3.11 Measurement Situation of MAS Software Resources Level 144

6.1.3.12 Measurement Situation of MAS Hardware Resources Level 144

6.2 Open Questions and Future Directions 144 References 148

Author Index 149

Subject Index 151