Towards a real-time architecture for time-aware agents

ABSTRACT

This extended abstract introduces the concept and defines the requirements of time-aware agents, that is, agents capable of reasoning about temporal constraints placed on both agent-agent and human-agent interactions. Using this concept, a real-time architecture for time-aware agents is described and realised through a prototype implementation in the April programming language. This architecture re-engineers classical real-time concepts (such as the scheduler) by elevating them from operating system components to being agents in their own right. This enables time-aware agents to be applied to environments where humans and agents play equally active roles: firstly by making them aware of the different temporal nature of agent-agent and human-agent interactions, and secondly by reasoning about both in a uniform and seamless manner.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
        D.2.11 Software Architectures

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Languages, Performance

Keywords:
agent architectures, agent programming languages and environments, april, real-time systems