Self-organising applications using lightweight agents

Abstract

Self-organisation in nature is responsible for many complex and persistent phenomena. This suggests that self-organisation may be useful in the creation of complex applications. Multiagent systems use multiple agents to execute complex activities, and thus may be a basis for self-organising applications. In this paper we describe applications using self-organisation based upon the DIET multi-agent platform that supports lightweight agents. Multi-agent systems can be created that support decentralisation, scalability and adaptability. We show that these application properties are useful for information sharing in mobile communities via self-organising among middle agents, and via peer-to-peer interaction between agents. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.