Convergence and Knowledge Processing in Multi-Agent Systems
Multi-agent systems are complex systems comprised of multiple intelligent agents that act either independently or in cooperation with one another. Agent-based modelling is a method for studying complex systems like economies, societies, ecologies etc. Due
- PDF / 5,885,159 Bytes
- 153 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 68 Downloads / 161 Views
For other titles published in this series, go to http://www.springer.com/series/4738
Maria Chli
•
Philippe de Wilde
Convergence and Knowledge Processing in Multi-Agent Systems
123
Maria Chli Aston University Birmingham United Kingdom B4 7ET
Philippe de Wilde Heriot Watt University Edinburgh United Kingdom EH14 4AS
ISBN 978-1-84882-062-3 e-ISBN 978-1-84882-063-0 DOI 10.1007/978-1-84882-063-0 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Control Number: 2009926287 c Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009 ° Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licenses issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. The use of registered names, trademarks, etc., in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. Cover design: SPi Publisher Services Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
Agent systems are being used to model complex systems like societies, markets and biological systems. Our broader interest lies in understanding the dynamics as well as in analysing the properties which emerge from the interactions that occur in such systems. More specifically, in this work we investigate issues of agent systems related to convergence and interactivity. We have been using techniques from agent-based modelling to simulate complex systems. The work described in this book makes four main contributions to the fields of convergence and knowledge processing in agent systems. First, we propose a definition for the stability of multi-agent systems. The system is perceived as a discrete time Markov chain with a potentially unknown transition probability distribution. It is considered to be stable when its state has converged to an equilibrium distribution. The definition proposed is the only one which takes into account the game nature of multi-agent systems, is relevant to systems with a varying number of agents and is supported by the mathematical framework of stochastic systems. Several artificial ecosystems have been implemented and used to verify the proposed definition and carry out an analysis of the stability of multiagent systems. Second, we i
Data Loading...
