IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - March 2018 - 35

Although agent-based technology has been in existence
for many years, it lacks a consensus as to its definition. Theo-
ries proposed by researchers recognize a commonly espoused
idea that encompasses the concepts of autonomy and environ-
ment. The most widely accepted definition was given by
Wooldridge and states that an agent is "a software (or hard-
ware) entity that is situated in some environment and is able
to autonomously react to changes in that environment" [22].
The driving force behind this technology is the ability of
intelligent agents to autonomously carry out their designated
goals without the involvement of users or other external sys-
tems. Keeping in consideration the objective or goal that
needs to be achieved-and the environment in which the goal
has to be accomplished-the agent is designed. The environ-
ment surrounding an agent could be physical or computation-
al, and the three prime components of an agent, as can be
observed from Figure 4, are the sensors, a decision-making
component, and an actuator.
Through sensors, an agent perceives changes in its envi-
ronment. The information received through sensors is the
input to its decision-making component, which is analogous
to a brain. This suggests that it senses changes in its environ-
ment and makes necessary suitable decisions, which are
based on its prior knowledge and set of rules or algorithms
that are developed exclusively to achieve its design objective.
The decisions made by the agent's brain are relayed to the
environment through actuators. The environment of an agent
may also contain other external agents with which it can
communicate through suitable protocols. Apart from these
components, an agent's environment also comprises a data-
base. This database is a blackboard on which the agent writes
information that it wishes to share with other agents. This
allows easy access to necessary information by other agents
present in its vicinity, without having to undergo a series of
requests and acknowledgments.
By monitoring the changes to its surroundings, either by
physical sensors or through computational modifications, the
agent is able to make suitable decisions based on its environ-
mental observations. Accordingly, the basic characteristics of
an agent are reactivity, proactivity, and social ability. Reac-
tivity is the ability of an agent to perceive changes in its
environment and react accordingly to achieve its design
objectives. Proactivity refers to the goal-directed behavior of
an agent that highlight the fact that, despite unwarranted
changes in its environment, the agent attempts to proceed in
the direction toward satisfying its design objectives. Social
ability highlights the bidirectional communication that exists
between agents. This emphasizes the fact that agents do not
merely communicate with each other based on common com-
munication protocols; they are able to negotiate and cooper-
ate among themselves.
For certain complex operations, mathematical formula-
tion and system design become exhausting tasks. In these
circumstances, developing one agent for an entire series of
tasks is too cumbersome. As a result, it is often necessary to
employ more than one agent. A system wherein multiple

A large segment of the world's
population, roughly 1.2 billion
people, lives in the dark with no
access to electricity.
agents interact and cooperate with one another to achieve
complex goals, which may be nearly impossible or difficult
for a single agent to accomplish. This is known as a multiagent system (MAS).
An MAS is an AI technique that may be used in a distrib-
uted environment. It consists of groups of agents that coex-
ist, communicate, and coordinate with one another. The
distinguishing feature of an MAS from traditional AI tech-
niques is that most of the conventional AI techniques have
been designed for static environments. This is due to the
ease and simplicity of the design that static environments
offer, permitting an easier mathematical formulation. How-
ever, with an increasing number of real-time problems that
are dynamic in nature, there is a need to explore the benefits
of an MAS. Figure 5 depicts an MAS comprising three

Actuator

Agent

Rule
Base

Sensor

Database

FIGURE 4. The basic structure of an agent.

Agent 1

Blackboard
Agent 3

Agent 2

FIGURE 5. The layout of an MAS.

MARCH 2018

^

IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine

35



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