Authors:
Nilson Lazarin
1
;
2
;
Carlos Pantoja
1
;
2
and
José Viterbo
1
Affiliations:
1
Institute of Computing (IC), Fluminense Federal University (UFF), Niterói-RJ, Brazil
;
2
Federal Center for Technological Education Celso Suckow da Fonseca (Cefet/RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Keyword(s):
Multi-Agent Systems, Embedded Multi-Agent Systems, Embedded Systems.
Abstract:
An Embedded MultiAgent System (MAS) is a cognitive system embedded into a physical device responsible for controlling the existing resources and communicability with other devices. An Embedded MAS provides autonomy and proactivity to physical devices using the BDI model. Designing a device implies choosing sensors and actuators as resources and programming firmware and reasoning at design time. However, at runtime, resources could sometimes be damaged, presenting malfunctioning, or need to be changed. Then, performing predictive, preventive, or corrective maintenance at runtime is impossible since the designer must stop the Embedded MAS to swap resources and reprogram the system. This paper presents a novel ability for swapping resources at runtime in Embedded MAS using an extended version of Argo agents and the Jason framework. A case study analyses the new swap ability in different situations: removing and changing existing resources, adding new known and unknown resources, and cau
sing a failure in a resource. The study case shows how the new swap ability can make devices with Embedded MAS adaptable and fault-tolerant.
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