Moving and computing models: Agents

Abstract

This chapter introduces and discusses the existing computational models employed in the literature for studying the feasibility and complexity of computations by mobile agents: computational mobile entities that operate and move in discrete spaces, modeled as graphs. While almost all models share some fundamental features, making basic common assumptions, their fundamental differences depend on the assumptions made on the capabilities of the agents, in particular on the means of interaction with the environment and of inter-agent communication. Clearly, there are many variations of the models, depending on the assumed level of synchrony, anonymity, persistent memory, and topological knowledge. This Chapter aims to provide an overview of these models and assumptions.