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Standardizing Agent Communication

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Multi-Agent Systems and Applications (ACAI 2001)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 2086))

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Abstract

An Agent Communication Language (ACL) is a collection of speech-act-like message types, with agreed-upon semantics, which facilitate the knowledge and information exchange between software agents. From Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language (KQML) to FIPA ACL, ACL’s have been a cornerstone for the development of systems of communicating agents, and simultaneously they have been the subject of intensive standardization efforts.

Standardization’s goal is usability. As a result, although the initial focus on ACL’s revolved around establishing the semantics of ACL’s, a variety of usability-related questions have entered the picture of standardizing communication among agents. In this article, we present these questions and the work that addresses them, alongside the historical evolution of ACL’s, their semantics and the results of their standardization.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, 21250

    Yannis Labrou

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  1. Yannis Labrou
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics and Computer Science Highfield, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

    Michael Luck

  2. Facultiy of Electr. Engineering, Dept. of Cybernetics Technicka 2, Czech Technical University, 166 27, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Vladimír Mařík  & Olga Štěpánková  & 

  3. Dept.of Med. Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence, University of Vienna, Freyung 6, 1010, Vienna, Austria

    Robert Trappl

  4. Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Schottengasse 3, 1010, Vienna, Austria

    Robert Trappl

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Labrou, Y. (2001). Standardizing Agent Communication. In: Luck, M., Mařík, V., Štěpánková, O., Trappl, R. (eds) Multi-Agent Systems and Applications. ACAI 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2086. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47745-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47745-4_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42312-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47745-7

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