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JADE. J ava A gent De velopment Framework An Overview. Introduction - Basic. JADE – software framework to develop agent-based applications Complies with FIPA specifications for interoperable intelligent multi-agent systems.
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JADE Java Agent Development Framework An Overview
Introduction - Basic • JADE – software framework to develop agent-based applications • Complies with FIPA specifications for interoperable intelligent multi-agent systems. • JADE is a “middleware” that enables faster time-to-market for developing multi-agent distributed applications. • It is Open Source distributed under LGPL license. • Fully developed in Java by TILAB (Italy).
Introduction - Features • Provides Agent life cycle management. • Peer-to-Peer communication. • White pages and yellow pages services. • Provides a set of graphical tools that supports the debugging, management and monitoring phases. • Support for agent code and execution state migration.
JADE Architecture • A JADE-based application is composed of a collection of active components called “Agents”. • Each agent is a peer and has a unique name. • Each running instance of the JADE runtime environment is called a Container as it can contain several agents. • Each agent lives in a “Container”. • The set of active containers is called a Platform. • The Platform provides a homogeneous layer that hides to agents the complexity and the diversity of the underlying tires (h/w, OS)
One container plays the role of a “Main Container” (where AMS, DF live) to which all other containers must register as soon as they start. • The main container differs from normal containers as it holds two special agents (automatically started when the main container is launched). • Two Special Agents: • The AMS (Agent Management System) that provides the naming service and represents the authority in the platform. • The DF (Directory Facilitator) that provides a Yellow Pages service by means of which an agent can find other agents providing the services he requires in order to achieve his goals.
Programmers Point of View • JADE provides a library of classes that programmers have to/can use to develop their agents. • The Agent Class • for creating a JADE agent • setup(), getAID(), doDelete(), takeDown() • The Behaviour Class • for carrying out the actual tasks • action(), done() • The ACLMessage Class • Format : Agent Communication Language (ACL) as defined by FIPA • Asyncronous message passing paradigm • The DFService Class • To publish and search for services through method calls.
For further information • http://jade.tilab.com