Maintenance Issues in Multi-Agent Systems

摘要

Multi-Agent systems are enjoying increasing popularity, more and more frequently being chosen as the ideal architecture for complex problems requiring distributed solutions. These systems are made up of a large number of smaller, autonomous software entities - agents. Each agent works independently towards its own small goals, the product of which is the overall problem being solved. Many unique properties of these multi-agent systems complicate their maintenance, such as agent mobility and adaptation. However, these same properties can be harnessed to simplify many aspects of the maintenance task. This paper gives a brief overview of multi-agent systems, men goes on to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities they pose for maintainers.