Using meta-agents to build MAS middleware

Various multiagent platforms exist, each providing a range of individual capabilities but typically their implementations lack the flexibility to allow developers to adapt them to the differing needs of individual applications. This paper investigates the design of a kernel for MAS middleware based on primitive meta-agents. We specify these meta-agents and examine how they can be used to realise the capabilities required by multiagent platforms. We examine how changes in the organisation of meta-agents produce MAS platforms with differing behaviours. We evaluate the meta-agent approach by experimentation, demonstrating how modifications in meta-agent behaviour can provide different strategies for agent communication, scoping rules and connectivity with other tools.