Lightweight Distributed Component-oriented Multi-agent Simulation Platform

Existing solutions for agent-based systems turn out to be limited in some applications, like agent-based computing or simulations, where very large numbers of clearly defined agents interact heavily within a closed system. In those cases, fully-fledged, FIPA(1) compliant environment introduce unnecessary overhead, but simple tools fail to scale when confronted to bigger problems. In this paper, we introduce an alternative agent environment called AgE, targeted at medium-sized simulation and computational applications, which use multi-agent and computational intelligence paradigms, but does not need full FIPA compliancy, and would benefit from a component-based approach and distributed computing capabilities. After giving a short review of selected popular multi-agent platforms, the main features of AgE are presented. Next, some basic usability topics are addressed. Then the most interesting architectural aspects of the platform are discussed. Finally, AgE possibilities are demonstrated with two example applications.