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Coordination knowledge engineering

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2003

SASCHA OSSOWSKI
Affiliation:
ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Campus de Mostoles, Calle Tulipan s/n, E-28933 Madrid, Spain email: sossowski@acm.org, http://www.ia.escet.urjc.es/~sossowsk
ANDREA OMICINI
Affiliation:
DEIS, Università di Bologna, Via Rasi e Spinelli 176, 47023, Cesena, FC, Italy email: andrea.omicini@acm.org, http://lia.deis.unibo.it/~ao

Abstract

By adopting a structured knowledge-level approach, coordination knowledge can be ascribed to groups (societies) of system components (agents) as a whole, rather than to individuals, in order to effectively rationalise complex patterns of interaction within intelligent (multi-agent) systems. Be it either explicitly represented at the symbol-level or hard-coded within specific coordination algorithms, coordination knowledge is instrumented by a wide and heterogeneous variety of coordination models, abstractions and technologies. Coordination knowledge engineering is then about eliciting, modelling and instrumenting coordination knowledge in a principled and effective manner.

In this introductory article, we briefly review two well-known frameworks to conceptualise coordination, then we discuss different dimensions along which coordination models can be classified, and analyse their impact on the design of coordination mechanisms and their supporting coordination knowledge. Finally, we sketch our view on coordination knowledge engineering and introduce the different contributions to this special issue along this line.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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