A formal model of agent-oriented virtual organisations and their formation

Issue title: Agent Based Computing: From Model to Implementation

Guest editors: Maria Ganzhaw, Marcin Paprzyckix, Costin Badicay and Rainer Unlandz

Article type: Research Article

Authors: McGinnis, Jarred^{a; *} | Stathis, Kostas^b | Toni, Francesca^c

Affiliations: [a] Press Association, London, UK | [b] Computer Science, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK | [c] Computing Department, Imperial College, London, UK | [w] Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw and University of Gdansk, Warsaw, Poland | [x] Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw and Management Academy, Warsaw, Poland | [y] Software Engineering Department, Faculty of Automatics, Computers and Electronics, University of Craiova, Bvd.Decebal, Craiova, Romania | [z] University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Computer Science and Business Information Systems (ICB), Practical Computer Science, Data Management Systems and Knowledge Representation, Essen, Germany

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Jarred McGinnis, Press Association, 292 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 1AE, UK. E-mail: jarred@pressassociation.com

Abstract: We present a formal model for agent-oriented Virtual Organisations (VOs) for service grids and we study an associated operational model for the creation of VOs. The model is intended to be used for describing different service grid applications based on multiple agents and, as a result, it abstracts away from any realisation choices of service grid applications, the agents involved to support the applications and their interactions. Within the proposed framework VOs are created within societies of agents, where agents are abstractly characterised by goals and roles they can play within VOs. In turn, VOs are abstractly characterised by the agents participating in them with specific roles, as well as the workflow of services and corresponding contracts suitable for achieving the goals of the participating agents. We illustrate the proposed framework with an earth observation scenario, we discuss implementation issues, and we compare our approach with existing work.

Keywords: Virtual organisations, agent societies, service grids, workflows, roles, contracts

DOI: 10.3233/MGS-2011-0179

Journal: Multiagent and Grid Systems , vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 291-310, 2011