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An agent-based model usually contains different types of agents which
represent different individuals from the system under investigation.
Multiple, distinguishable instances of each type of agent may be
present in the model. This definition of an agent-based model does
not answer the question whether agent-based modeling and simulation
is something new or not, it rather stresses that 'agent-based modeling
is a mindset more than a technology [22].'
Agent-based models are natural representations in social sciences [15]
and thus many ideas stem from this area [22]. More generally, agent-
based models are well-suited for systems with heterogeneous, autonom-
ous and pro-active actors where individual variability cannot be neg-
lected [120, 27, 83]. Furthermore, interaction between agents is usually
regarded to be essential [27, 68].
Recalling the difference between a model and its simulation, it is
now straight-forward to define the term of a multi-agent simulation:
Definition 7 (Multi-agent simulation)
A
multi-agent simulation
is the simulation of an agent-based model.
Similar terms frequently used in literature are: agent-based modeling
and simulation (ABMS), multi-agent simulation (MAS), individual-
based modeling (IBM), agent-based modeling (ABM), agent-based
simulation (ABS). This thesis uses the term agent-based modeling
and simulation (if only the model itself is referred to, the clause
and
simulation
is omitted).
Although multi-agent
simulations
and multi-agent
systems
share
many ideas (and are both abbreviated as MAS), it is important to
distinguish precisely between these two terms. The main difference is
that multi-agent simulations take place in a simulated world, whereas
multi-agent systems are usually considered to have interactions with
the real world.
2.2.2 Agent architecture
So far, only the characteristics of an agent itself have been described.
Additionally, the internal structure and operation of an agent is
