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important as it defines how an agent pursues and finally achieves its
desired objectives.
Definition 8 (Agent architecture)
An
agent architecture
specifies
how the construction of an agent can be decomposed into the construc-
tion of a set of component modules and how these modules should be
made to interact (cp. [13, 85, 90]).
By this definition, the agent architecture defines the internal structure
of an agent, the component modules of an agent, their behavior and
interactions [39, p. 447]. On an abstract level, the internal structure
of an agent always consists of three main components [21, p. 10]:
Sensor interface
The sensor interface enables an agent to perceive the environment
it is situated in.
Effector interface
The effector interface enables an agent to interact with the environ-
ment and to actively pursue its goals.
Reasoner
The reasoner is an internal component of the agent for processing
the data perceived by the sensors, for decision making and for
controlling effectors.
With respect to a specific agent architecture each of these components
has to be detailed further, e. g., the reasoner of an agent architecture
might include a knowledge base, workflow monitor, or planner [21,
p. 10]. In summary, an agent architecture defines how sensor data
(perceptions) and a possible internal state of an agent determine the
next actions (effector outputs) and the future internal state of an
agent [85]. This mapping of any given sequence of perceptions to an
action is also referred to as
agent function
[112, p. 33].
For classifying agent architectures, various approaches have been
suggested. According to Genesereth and Nilsson two general agent
architectures may be distinguished [39]:
