HOLONIC ENTERPRISE AS A COLLABORATIVE INFORMATION ECOSYSTEM

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HOLONIC ENTERPRISE AS A COLLABORATIVE INFORMATION
ECOSYSTEM
?
FIPA Meeting London, UK 2001
MIHAELA ULIERU
INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS GROUP HEAD Dr. Douglas
Norrie http//isg.enme.ucalgary.ca The University
of Calgary CANADA
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HOLONIC ENTERPRISE

• HOLARCHY of Collaborative Enterprises (Entity
  Systems, things, AGENTS) - holons
• Balance AUTONOMY - COOPERATION
• Replication into self-similar structures at
  multi-resolution levels (fractal)

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HOLONIC ENTERPRISE
ENTERPRISE
Field Cluster
CC
CC
RESOURCEr
EC
RESOURCE
EC
CC
CE
CE
CE
RESOURCE
CE
CE
CE
EC
CC
CC
ENTERPRISE
RESOURCE
CE
CE
CE
EC
RESOURCE
EC
CE
CE
CE
CE
CE
CE
CC
CC
RESOURCEr
EC
RESOURCE
EC
CC
Dynamic Virtual Cluster
CE
CE
CE
RESOURCEr
CE
CE
CE
EC
CE
CE
CE
Field Cluster
HOLONIC ENTERPRISE AS A HOLARCHY
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COLLABORATIVE LEVELS

• 1. INTER-ENTERPRISE (supply chain)
• 2. INTRA-ENTERPRISE (planning/scheduling
• 3. MACHINE CONTROL (manufacturing)
• ? What do we ABSTRACT into agents at each Level
  - to provide the desired functionality/results

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Flow of Information between the Inter and
Intra-Enterprise Levels
University of Calgary Intelligent Systems
Group Calgary, Alberta, Canada
InterfaceAgent

• Group behaviors
• Task
• Agent classes
• Interaction patterns
• Coordination constraints
• Task ordering constraints
• Results constraints task- related
  information, topics
• Execution constraints
• ACL message protocols

Request
Reply
CollaborativeAgent
Model
Request
Reply
Conversationschemata
KnowledgeAgent
Database
Specify
Convert
Deploy
Conversation Managers (centralized or distributed)
Java threads
Colored Petri Nets
Abstract conversation Schema
Verify
Production Planning Scenario
Message
IE
I/O
Schemaclass
Recognizing Situation
ASP
EE
Rule variableinitialization
Selecting a rule
SchemataLibrary
Executing the rule
Agentnaming
Sending messages
ANS
Conversation Manager
Updating and Memorizingstate information
Schemainstance
YP
Schema execution
Schema instantiation
Internal Conceptualization of a Conversation
Manager
Conversation Schema as a Colored Petri Net
Schema instantiation and execution
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PATTERNS OF HOLONIC COLLABORATION

• Common mechanisms that characterize the
  information ecosystem created by the three levels
  of a holonic enterprise
• Dynamic Virtual Clustering configured to minimize
  cost and enabling for flexible, re-configurable
  structures
• Mediator Agent (decisions on cluster
  configuration)
• Partial Cloning (enterprises, internal resources,
  physical machines)

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METAMORPHIC ARCHITECTURE
HOLONIC ENTERPRISE
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HOLONIC PATTERNS INTERACTION
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TASK DECOMPOSITION

• Task distribution among the clusters entities
  (outside-in view from the Mediator to each
  collaborative entity
• Task deployment within each entity (inside-out
  view from the entity to the Mediator)
• ONTOLOGY PATTERN
  - peer-to-peer (task distribution)
  - inter-level
  (task deployment)

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INTER-ENTERPRISE
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The Networked Economy
Wireless
Portal
eMarketplace
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Business Model in the 20th Century
Customers
Suppliers
Partners
Employees
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Business Model in the 21st Century
Enterprise Portals enable Integrated and sharing
of Information, Services and Applications among
Suppliers, Employees, Partners and Customers.
Customers
Suppliers
Partners
Employees
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What is a Portal?
Targeted Communities
Key Services
Aggregated for...
Employee
Employee
Content
Content
Communication
Supplier
Communication
Supplier
Collaboration
Any Device Access
Collaboration
Partner
Partner
Commerce
Commerce
Customer Care
Customer Care
Customer
Customer
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Enterprise Information Portals Transform the
Business Value Chain
Traditional Model of Business Value Chain
Firm
Becomes
Partners
Suppliers
The Enterprise Information Portal
Customer
Portal Enabled Business iValue Chain
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INTER-ENTERPRISE

• FORCES TO BE BALANCED - Cost
  Minimization (maximum synergy cluster the best
  partners) - BALANCE Autonomy-Cooperation
  - On-demand tracking on-line failure
  reporting
  - On-line re-configuration (to keep
  optimal cluster)

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VIRTUAL ORGANISATIONS
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SERVICES AND MECHANISMS

• Metamorphic Architecture Interoperability
  (FIPA) Security Standards
• Virtual Clustering Mediator needs Grouping
  Policies (obligation, authorization,
  constraining). Contractual frameworks that enable
  nested management structures in
  policy-restraining contexts and under security
  constraints (COOPERATION DOMANINS)

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THE COOPERATION-COMMUNICATION LAYER
infrastructure

• URL protocol// id_at_ host port /path

An Architecture for Collaborative MAS 23
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PARTIAL CLONING

• ATTRIBUTES to be abstracted into agents which
  goods and services does the enterprise provide
  and what makes its competitive advantage?
  marketing strategies (attributes that enable
  penetration into a cluster and be chosen when a
  new cluster is formed)

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MEDIATOR

• INSIDE-OUT - Enterprise-to-cluster negotiation
  ISSUE obtain and maintain the TRUST of the
  mediator in charge with the coordination of the
  collaborative cluster
• Otuside-In - Cluster-to Enterprise decisions
  Flexible Utility Function (is cost of keeping the
  partner worthwhile). Jennings - keep partner
  whose proposal is most similar to opponents last
  offer, but whose trust degree is higher

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Task Distribution/Decomposition

• Mediators can enforce Compliance Mechanisms (e.g.
  reputation and regimentation) on the partners
  to coerce them to fulfill their obligations.
• Negotiation Frameworks (Jennings) using
  influence (Interactive contractual design)

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INTRA-ENTERPRISE

• FORCES TO BE BALANCED
• 1. Need to keep ones position within the
  collaborative cluster
• 2. Need to stay Competitive
• REQUIRED SERVICES
• 1. Dynamic scheduling to accommodate new orders
  on the fly (re-prioritize re-configure)
• 2. Security Policies Advertising Bidding
  Interfacing with each cluster look-out

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PATTERNS

• Mediator Agent channels all access to the system
  to ensure security and robustness of the
  collaborative ecosystem inside the enterprise
  (Static and Dynamic Mediators)
• Dynamic Virtual Clustering GT
• Task Decomposition On-line re-scheduling of the
  production resources (e.g. EA) Work flow
  reconfiguration across the organization
• ONTOLOGIES deploy scheduled task down to the
  machine control level (Jim Christensen)

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A Robust, Scalable Infrastructure Platform
Suns Three Main Investment Areas
Massive Scale
H/W
S/W
Integratable Stack
Continuous Real-time
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MACHINE CONTROL LEVEL

• GOAL ensure production continuity through
  machine reliability and rapid reconfiguration in
  case of break-down
• FORCES enable user to develop the application by
  plugging function blocks compile the code and
  distribute it on the appropriate resources for
  execution manage timing and precedence
  relationships while executing the distributed FB
  safety, etc.

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MACHINE LEVEL

• Self Configuration and Dynamic Reconfiguration of
  Intelligent Machines (physical holons)
• Deployment of self-(re)configuring, intelligent,
  distributed automation elements.
• Ontologies for manufacturing process-task-operatio
  n-controller (e.g.function block) mapping (e.g.,
  PSL)

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PATTERNS OF HOLONIC CONTROL
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Mapping Holonic Systems into MAS via Mediators
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PURPOSE OF PDM

• These patterns have specific particularities
  within each level of the collaborative holarchy.
• The purpose of our work is to identify these
  particularities and clearly define the mechanisms
  that would enable their implementation on the
  grounds offered by the FIPA architecture
• E.g. ONTOLOGIES inter-thing communication
• Agent - peer-to-peer
• Level deployment (outside-in)
  bidding/advertising (inside-out)

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NEXT MEETING OF THE PDM WG

• ACAI 01 Summer School Multi-Agent Systems and
  their Applications
• http//cyber.felk.cvut.cz/ACAI01
• Prague, July 2-13, 2001
• joint event of AgentLink, ECCAI, CTU and
  University of Vienna
• 24 invited lecturers (K. Sycara, E. Durfee, M.
  Wooldridge, M. Tambe, S. Kraus, Y. Demazeau, F.
  Labrou, W. Wahlster)
• accompanied by workshops and student sessions