An agent oriented paradigm for the design of complex systems: energy distribution automation, an application domain

Distributed computing, where the underlying network is complex, heterogeneous and unreliable, is hard to realize with traditional approaches. Energy Distribution Automation (DA), where the power line is used for communication, and the processing is highly distributed is our application domain for assessments of new technologies for these kind of systems. In this paper we propose a new approach where Agents interact, trying to solve problems in a distributed and cooperative manner. An Agent Oriented Paradigm is introduced for the design of such complex systems and a basic agent architecture is outlined. Some problems of this approach are highlighted and the conclusions are finally focused on further research and implementation issues.