The stability, scalability and performance of multi-agent systems

Much has been published on the functional properties of multi-agent systems (MASs) including their co-ordination, rationality and knowledge modelling. However, an important research area which has so far received only scant attention covers the non-functional properties of MASs which include performance, scalability and stability issues - clearly these become increasingly important as the MAS field matures, and as more practical MASs become operational. An understanding of how to evaluate and assess such non-functional properties, and hence how to improve on them by altering the underlying MAS design, is gradually emerging as a pressing concern. This paper presents preliminary work to address such concerns; particularly, it investigates the performance and scalability of a multi-agent model we have developed. Firstly, this paper defines performance, scalability and stability within the context of multi-agent applications. Following, we describe a multi-agent model that we later use to illustrate our first attempts at evolving a procedure for analysing such non-functional properties of MASs. Next, we report on our initial attempts to investigate the performance and scalability of the multi-agent model. Finally, the significance of these results in particular and of such investigations in general is discussed.