Using Javaspaces to Implement a Mobile Multi-agent System

This paper investigates how a framework for sharing objects in a distributed setting can provide the same support for mobile agents as a framework made specific for this purpose. The paper describes experiences from migrating a multi-agent system using the JavaSpaces framework from Sun and that was originally implemented using the Aglets agent framework from IBM. Our mobile agent system is named CAGIS DIAS and consists of four main parts: agents, agent meeting places, workspaces and repositories. In this paper, we describe how we had to modify the agents and the agent meeting places to use JavaSpaces as the underlying technology for mobility and agent coordination. Our experiences indicates that the JavaSpaces technology is useful for building mobile agent systems. In addition, the experiences shows some advantages and short comings of using this approach.