The ABELS brokering system

Simulations often need access to physically distributed data resources such as datasets, sensors, or even other simulations. The Agent-Based Environment for Linking Simulations (ABELS) is a framework that allows distributed simulations and data resources to dynamically communicate with each other in real time to produce useful and accurate results. Specifically, it allows independently designed simulations to communicate with no a priori knowledge of the details of other simulations and data resources. The ABELS framework consists of user entities such as simulations and data resources, generic local agents that provide an interface to the system, and a brokering system that facilitates the dynamic linking of heterogeneous simulations and data sources. This paper presents the design and implementation of the ABELS brokering system and described its interactions with the generic local agents. The brokering system consists of a registration module, a lookup module, a communication facilitator, a resource manager, and a matchmaking module. Sun Microsystems' Jini technology is used to implement certain modules of the brokering system.