ITcon Vol. 16, pg. 727-744, http://www.itcon.org/2011/43

Organization – oriented multi – agent systems for construction supply chains

revised:November 2011
published:November 2011
editor(s):Turk Ž.
authors:Esther A. Obonyo, Dr,
Rinker School of Building Construction, University of Florida, USA;
obonyo@ufl.edu

Chimay J. Anumba, Prof,
Architectural Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, USA;
anumba@engr.psu.edu
summary:The agent paradigm has been used by several researchers to build several complex constructionindustry-specific tools ranging from e-business applications to cross-disciplinary communication systems,supply-chain management and contract administration. Because of the slow progress in the maturity of theunderlying infrastructure, such applications relied on platforms such as JADE based on agent-centeredtechniques which focus on the defining communication and interaction protocols based on individual agents’internal structure. An agent-centered approach undermines the potential for deploying a large-scale community ofagents developed by different people. This paper discussed the potential for addressing this limitation usingorganizational abstraction to model multi-agent systems. It provides an overview of an agent-centered,JADE-based prototype system for construction specification and procurement. A critique of the agent-centeredapproach has been provided. The paper also reviews related work in organization-centered, agent systems. This isfollowed by a description of an organization-centered, JADE-based proof-of-concept based on constructionproducts procurement requirements. The paper concludes with a discussion highlighting further work in theresearch. It specifically identifies the potential for enhancing the organization-centered MAS approach usingontologies.
keywords:Supply chain, e-business, intelligent agents, methodology, organizational abstraction
full text: (PDF file, 0.548 MB)
citation:Obonyo E A, Chimay J A (2011). Organization – oriented multi – agent systems for construction supply chains, ITcon Vol. 16, pg. 727-744, https://www.itcon.org/2011/43