article

Mobile agent systems and cellular automata

Author:

Stefan GrunerAuthors Info & Claims

Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, Volume 20, Issue 2

Pages 198 - 233

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10458-009-9090-0

Published: 01 March 2010 Publication History

Abstract

The purpose of this article (based on an earlier draft available as technical report: Gruner S, Mobile agent systems and cellular automata. LaBRI Research Reports, 2006) is to make a step towards uniting the paradigms of cellular automata and mobile agents, thus consequentially the fields of artificial life and multi agent systems, which have significant overlap but are still largely perceived as separate fields. In Chalopin et al. (Mobile agent algorithms versus message passing algorithms, pp. 187---201, 2006) the equivalent power of classical distributed algorithms and mobile agent algorithms was demonstrated for asynchronous systems with interleaving semantics under some further constraints and assumptions. Similar results are still being sought about mobile agent systems and distributed systems under other constraints and assumptions in search of a comprehensive general theory of these topics. This article investigates the relationship between mobile agent systems and a generalized form of cellular automata. With a particular notion of local equivalence, a cellular automaton can be translated into a mobile agent system and vice versa. The article shows that if the underlying network graph is finite, then the degree of pseudo-synchrony of the agent system simulating the cellular automaton can be made arbitrarily high, even with an only small number of active agents. As a possible consequence of this theoretical result, the Internet might be used in the future to implement large cellular automata of almost arbitrary topology.

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Cited By

Hernández-Orallo J(2015)On environment difficulty and discriminating powerAutonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems10.1007/s10458-014-9257-129:3(402-454)Online publication date: 1-May-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10458-014-9257-1
Sanders JSmith G(2012)Emergence and refinementFormal Aspects of Computing10.1007/s00165-011-0190-724:1(45-65)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00165-011-0190-7
Sanders JSmith G(2009)Refining Emergent PropertiesElectronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS)10.1016/j.entcs.2009.12.026259(207-223)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.entcs.2009.12.026

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Published In

cover image Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems

Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Volume 20, Issue 2

March 2010

200 pages

ISSN:1387-2532

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © Copyright © 2010 The Author(s).

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Kluwer Academic Publishers

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 March 2010

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Cited By

Hernández-Orallo J(2015)On environment difficulty and discriminating powerAutonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems10.1007/s10458-014-9257-129:3(402-454)Online publication date: 1-May-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10458-014-9257-1
Sanders JSmith G(2012)Emergence and refinementFormal Aspects of Computing10.1007/s00165-011-0190-724:1(45-65)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00165-011-0190-7
Sanders JSmith G(2009)Refining Emergent PropertiesElectronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS)10.1016/j.entcs.2009.12.026259(207-223)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.entcs.2009.12.026

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