An intelligent agent with layered architecture for operating systems resource management

TLDR

A software agent is an autonomous entity that interacts with its environment, responds to other agents or environmental stimuli, and controls its internal state, as described by belief–desire–intention theory. The paper investigates how a BDI‑based processing cycle can be enhanced with a software feedback mechanism to model and design an autonomous, adaptive monitoring agent with layered control architecture. The authors implement a three‑layered feedback control architecture—scheduling, optimizing, and regulating—that continuously monitors system outputs, compares them to preset goals, and adjusts behavior without external intervention. Experiments demonstrate that the developed monitoring agent effectively manages an e‑mail server.

Abstract

Abstract: A software agent is defined as an autonomous software entity that is able to interact with its environment. Such an agent is able to respond to other agents and/or its environment to some degree, and has some sort of control over its internal state and actions. In belief–desire–intention (BDI) theory, an agent's behavior is described in terms of a processing cycle. In this paper, based on BDI theory, the processing cycle is studied with a software feedback mechanism. A software feedback or loop‐back control mechanism can perform functions without direct external intervention. A feedback mechanism can continuously monitor the output of the system under control (the target system), compare the result against preset values (goals of the feedback control) and feed the difference back to adjust the behavior of the target system in a processing cycle. We discuss the modeling and design aspects of an autonomous, adaptive monitoring agent with layered control architecture. The architecture consists of three layers: a scheduling layer, an optimizing layer and a regulating layer. Experimental results show that the monitoring agent developed for an e‐mail server is effective.