S. Manchenahalli, M. Kumar, and B.A. Shirazi (USA)
Pervasive computing, software agents, information sharing, and agent interaction.
Pervasive computing requires seamless communication among distributed software entities in heterogeneous environments. Community computing initiative is built around communities of software entities called delegents (intelligent delegate). Information sharing among the delegents of a community demands extensive communication. The two modes of communication currently employed for distributed software entities are either direct or indirect. In direct communication, the sender explicitly addresses the receiver in order to interact, whereas in indirect communication, the interaction is through a third medium or shared space, sometimes called the blackboard. Community interactions involve complex continual sharing of information among delegents at all times. In this paper, we describe the development of basic delegents for information exchange on a prototype distributed computing system. Results of experimental work with two communities, one with delegents using direct communication and the other with delegents using indirect communication are presented. Results were obtained for different types of information exchange among delegents. We propose that for pervasive computing applications, it is necessary to have a communication framework that can adapt to direct or indirect mode of communication depending on the situation and goal of the community.
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