TABLE OF CONTENTS Heikki Helin and Mikko Laukkanen
Abstract. In wireless environments, communication should be tailored to enable an efficient use of scarce and fluctuating data communication resources. In this chapter we consider software agent communication in such environments. We introduce a layered model of agent communication in the context of the FIPA agent architecture. We have designed and implemented efficient solutions for wireless agent communication for each layer of this communication stack. Further, we thoroughly analyze the performance of agent communication in slow wireless environments. The analysis shows that agent communication in wireless environments could be improved significantly as long as all communication layers in the agent communication stack are appropriately taken into account.
The progress in wireless network technologies and mobile devices changes the ways in which people access services. A user may access the same services as she would using her desktop computer, but in the nomadic environment she is able to do so anywhere, at any time and even using a variety of different kinds of devices. Such an environment places new challenges on the architecture implementing the services. Nomadic environments differs from stationary environments in two fundamental ways. Firstly, the user may be situated in an environment, where multiple data communication networks may be available. Because of the different network types and characteristics of the networks, for instance the values of Quality-of-Service (QoS) parameters may change dramatically based on the network that the user is currently connected to. Secondly, the user may access the...
