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provide designer with a language and the related infrastructure for the develop-
ment of systems of agents that are characterized and influenced by their spatial
position and where the spatial relationship among agents is considered in agent
interaction. The preliminary language specification and a discussion on the mech-
anisms needed develop a framework that implements the model can be found
in [21] and [22] respectively.
5Conclusions
This paper has presented the description of the Multilayered Multi Agent Sit-
uated System model, a spatially explicit and distributed model incorporating
synchronous and asynchronous forms of interaction. Agent behavior occurring,
for instance, as response to perception of fields generated by other agents and
propagating throughout the environment, is strongly influenced by the spatial
structure of the latter. Since field values can decrease during field propagation,
agents perceive them depending on the site of the space where the agent is sit-
uated and the site in which the field has been generated. Moreover, an explicit
definition of the spatial structure of agent environment allows the definition of
distance and adjacency among situated agents. The MMASS model provides two
types of interaction among agents constituting the MAS (i.e. reaction and field
emission-propagation-perception), and both types take into account the spatial
relationship between agents. In fact, fields influence agents depending on their
spatial distance, and reactions occur only when agents are spatially adjacent.
Finally, since in some cases the environment is a shared resource for agents, its
spatial structure constraints also agent actions, like agent change of position in
the environment.
As stated in Section 4, future work will concern the development of a language
and a tool to design, develop and execute applications according to the MMASS
approach. Moreover, the MMASS approach application will contemporaneously
proceed within the MABS and CSCW domains.
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