Multi-Agent Planning, Execution and Monitoring

摘要

We describe a multi-agent framework where a collection of agents is configured into a network to execute and monitor a plan, or in this specific case, a cargo airlift schedule. Based on the schedule's confent, the agents construct various execution strategies. The strategies are applied by configuring and reconfiguring an agent network and monitoring a configuration's progress as compared to a model of expectation. This reconfiguration allows the agents to adapt to changes in the environment and in the achievement of goals. Agent behaviors include monitoring a group of agents' activities and comparing them to a model; monitoring for changes in the schedule; comparing collected/analyzed data to expectations based on the schedule; and collecting data from external sources such as WWW pages and on-line databases.