Exploring the Interdependencies among Communication, Knowledgeability and Performance of Multi-agent Systems

• Published in: World Congress on Engineering 2007. Volume 1 Vol. 1; pp. 547 - 552
• Main Authors: Bedi, Punam, Gaur, Vibha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2007
• ISBN: 988986715X; 9789889867157

The advent of ubiquitous computing has revolutionized distributed Multi-agent systems (MAS). Consequently, there are many software projects focusing on MASs. However, its successful application is subject to the adoption of effective agents' communication that would be needed to share expertise for achieving goals of MAS. Communication among agents and agents' cognitive capabilities influences MAS quality. The main quality factors that are affected by communication among agents are knowledgeability and performance and vice-versa. Knowledgeability can be realized by maximizing the amount and specification of knowledge in knowledgebase that affects the quality of decisions to achieve the goals, while performance can be interpreted as a means to maximize the utility of MAS in terms of throughput, resource utilization and response time. Fuzzy Cognitive Maps are useful tool for simulating and analyzing dynamic systems. This paper presents an application of FCM to analyze the interdependencies of four major features of MAS namely agent base, communication effort, performance and knowledgeability that would assist the analyst in modeling MAS to meet the desired objectives.