A proposal for realizing adaptive ambient ecologies through an ontology-based multi-agent system

This paper presents an agent-based approach for realizing a new generation of intelligent environments referred to as adaptive ambient ecologies. These are highly distributed systems, which require new ways of communication and collaboration in order to support the realization of people´s tasks. We use three types of agents for the main functions of planning, adaptation and interaction. The knowledge repository of an ambient ecology is encoded in an ontology that is assembled on demand and is made accessible to the agents. In our approach, we introduce methodologies for extending the concept of ontologies beyond the storage of structured data to further include mechanisms for the exchange and manipulation of activity related information within ecologies.