A multi-agent tuple-space based problem solving framework

Many real-life problems are inherently distributed. The applications may be spatially, distributed, such as interpreting and integrating data from spa tially distributed sources. It is also possible to have the applications be ing functionally distributed, such as bringing together a number of special ized medical-diagnosis systems on a particularly difficult case. In additio n, the applications might be temporally, distributed, as in a factory where the production line consists of several work areas, each having an expert system responsible for scheduling orders. Research in cooperating intellige nt systems has led to the development of many computational models (Huhns a nd Singh, 1992; Hewitt, 1991; Gasser, 1991; Polat et al., 1993; Polat and G uvenir, 1993, 1994; Shoham, 1993 Sycara, 1989) for coordinating several int elligent systems for solving complex problems involving diverse knowledge a nd activity. In this paper, a system for coordinating problem solving activ ities of multiple intelligent agents using the tuple space model of computa tion is described. The tuple space based problem solving framework is imple mented on an Intel Hypercube iPSC/2 allowing multiple rule-based systems pe rforming their dedicated tasks in parallel. The tasks are interrelated, in other words, there exists a partial order among the tasks which have to be performed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.