AST-a method of agent naming and localization

Agent naming and localization is the key technology in mobile agents. How it is implemented affects the performance of the whole agent system deeply. The paper proposes a method called agent shadow tracing to implement the agent naming and localization, after analyzing three approaches in agent naming and localization. This method treats agents as some source of the host that generates it, and assigns a shadow to the agent so that other agents and programs can communicate with it through the shadow when the agent roams around the network. The paper also discusses the security of AST and its advantages compared with other methods. This method avoids some known disadvantages in existing methods.