Agent Technologies for Space Applications: The DAFA Experience

The Distributed Agents For Autonomy (DAFA) study has been performed for ESA/ESTEC by SciSys UK Ltd, VEGA, and Politecnico di Milano in 2008-2009. The aim of DAFA study has been to examine the application of distributed agent technology to increase the overall performance of a space mission. It is important to note that the distribution should be seen on a system level, including both earth- and space-based agents. From an analysis of past, present, and future space missions, the ExoMars mission was identified as a mission where the application of agent technology seemed profitable. After analysis of different agent frameworks, JADE was chosen to develop a software prototype for a scenario based on an ExoMars-like mission. This demonstrator has been used to highlight the advantages of a DAFA approach for the definition of the mission architecture.