Mobile devices as authentic and trustworthy sources in multi-agent systems

Current state of the art of mobile devices enables user to collect measured data of various physical phenomena. Such devices can be viewed as participating agents in a multi-agent system (MAS). By utilizing public key infrastructure (PKI) these devices can be promoted to an authentic and trustworthy source of data which can be used for forensic purposes. Broader picture of circumstances of an event of interest can be achieved by concurrently collecting still images or video files, and sensor measurements from multiple users, who's mobile devices participate as agents in a MAS. Participation of a user is voluntary, conditioned on the close proximity of the user to the event of interest (“geo-fencing”). The collected data is processed by cryptographic and steganographic methods, for the purpose of guarantee that the collected data if authentic and trustworthy. By digitally signing, the collected data has legal power and can be used for forensic purposes and in legal proceedings.