ER-agent communication languages and protocol for large-scale emergency responses

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a new agent communication language (ER-ACL) and a corresponding protocol (ER-ACP) to be used in multi-agent systems (MAS) to assist large-scale emergency responses as a part of an Emergency Response Communication Framework. In the previous study of ACL, we found them lack the necessary richness to support communication during a large-scale disaster, inc. structure, semantics and user models. This inspired us to create a new ER-ACL to fulfil this gap. Four types of agents are supported in ER-ACL: victims, carers (medical & social workers), families & friends, and ER-rescuers & helpers (members of the public, NGOs, government agencies, etc.). The advantages of ER-ACL and ER-ACP are that they provide a well-defined foundation to connect victims with potential helpers, thereby enabling crowdsourcing via effective communication based on precise semantics. The ER-ACL represents a significant extension and specialisation of the FIPA ACL for applications in emergency response scenarios now that great technical advances have been made in telecommunication (including image and video reporting). We have also added many new message constructs from the Common Alerting Protocol. In today’s uncertain world, we believe a well-managed and personalised communication system is vital to organise unstructured/opportunistic resources to save lives. Not having found one in existence to-date, we hope our efforts can help close this gap.