Agent coordination in the mobile agent P2P architecture for supporting mobile devices in a Gnutella file-sharing network

The architecture proposed in our previous paper uses mobile agents to support the use of peer-to-peer applications by mobile devices. In order to improve the efficacy and scalability of the number of mobile agents supported by the agent execution environments, a suitable coordination model between the mobile agents is needed. The coordination model adopted is facilitated by the logical entity of a blackboard within the execution environment, where all mobile agents register their existence. In addition, the mobile agents form a peer-to-peer network within the execution environment, with one agent acting as the gateway to the outside network. The network topology adopted within the execution environment is a logical ring, and this choice is justified with some intuitive analysis.