A performance analysis framework for mobile agent systems

In this paper we propose a novel performance analysis approach that can be used to gauge quantitatively the performance characteristics of different mobile-agent platforms. We materialize this approach as a hierarchical framework of benchmarks designed to isolate performance properties of interest, at different levels of detail. We identify the structure and parameters of benchmarks and propose metrics that can be used to capture their properties. We present a set of micro-benchmarks, comprising the lower level of our hierarchy, and examine their behavior when implemented with commercial, Java-based, mobile agent platforms.