AgentScape Release Plan

Last edited: April 2011

Wish-List

In the future, AgentScape will contain a number of features. Notable entries on this wish-list are:

Agent-based simulation support
Jason support
Security Framework
This framework will implement the AgentScape security model. Authentication and Authorization mechanisms will be added, and a Security Manager will be created to enforce security policies.
Improved thread management
Performance improvements related to agent thread use.
Agent communication: messaging semantics
The current ‘block until delivered’ semantics is not suitable for all situations. Alternative models are being examined.
IDE integration
making it easier for you to develop agent-applications using your IDE environment.
Support for mobile devices
Logging service
Support for distributed deployment

Planned for next AgentScape Release Milestone M4-2011 (October 2011)

The following features are planned for the next milestone M4 release:

Web-Service Gateway
Agents can access external Web-Services and publish their own.
Graphical User Interface
A more user-friendly way to start and stop AgentScape and its services. In addition, easier ways to configure AgentScape using configuration files. Easier methods to start and monitor agents.
Security Mechanisms
Completion of the authorisation mechanisms along with several sample security managers.
Demo/Tutorial
The purpose of a Demo is to show-off the capabilities of AgentScape. The purpose of a Tutorial
is to provide a quick-and-easy way to teach new users how to use AgentScape.

AgentScape Release Milestone M3-2011 (April 2011)

Milestone 3 has been released in April 2011 and includes the following features:

Web-Service Gateway
Agents can access web-services through this gateway. Currently, they cannot
publish their own web-services yet. This feature will be supported in the next milestone.
XML-Based AgentScape Configuration Mechanism
This feature is part of an ongoing effort to get a more user-friendly way to start/stop and configure
AgentScape and its services. Configurations can be specified in XML.
Documentation
A clear tutorial to help users and developers get on their way with AgentScape.
Security
A basic framework to add authentication and authorization checks for Agents and Services
in AgentScape.

AgentScape Release Milestone M2-2010 (October 2010)

In this release the following major changes/additions have been included:

Blackboard service (local blackboard only)
The Blackboard service provides AgentScape agents with a dataspace to store objects and information. The initial version will support a centralized in-memory data store.
Naming and Directory Service (superceding Lookup Service)
The Naming and Directory Service will replace the AgentScape Lookup Service with respect to its use by applications: In M2-2010, the LS will only be available to the middleware itself, and will no longer contain application –level information. The DS is provided to applications to store and search for agent and service information.
Revised Servlet Service
The Servlet service has been revised and is now implemented using the new AgentScape Service Architecture.
Agent API changes
The API of AgentScape and the Agent have changed to reflect the way they
are accessed by agents, agent-owners, and others.
Agent Container API changes
The Agent Container API has been changed to be more convenient to use.
Bug fixes
As always, we are continuously improving AgentScape. Report any bugs on
the AgentScape forum.
Documentation and examples
Documentation of the new features are available on the AgentScape website

AgentScape Release Milestone M1-2010 (April 2010)

Compared to older releases, this is very much a stripped-down version of AgentScape, which contains only the core functionality and not much else. Though many of the features that have been removed can be added in future releases using custom services. These are not part of Milestone 1 yet, but are planned to be added later.

The following functionality has been removed

Removed servlet support (scheduled to be added in 2.0-m2)
Removed WS-Gateway
Removed Jason support
Removed WS-Agreement based negotiation support
Binary agent server support

Other notable changes are: