Here are full lecture slides on Agent communication Languages, and different types of agent communication languages, Multiagent Communication & Multiagent Communication System.

1. Agent Communication
By: Ahsan Rahim

2. Introduction
 An agent is a computer system capable of autonomous action in some
environment in order to meet its design objectives
 Agent communication is essential for facilitating cooperation,
coordination, negotiation, and other aspects of agent interaction

3. Agent Communication Languages
(ACLs)
 Agents Communication Language (ACL) provides agents with a means
of exchanging information and knowledge.
 Number of languages have been developed specifically for agent
communication.

4. Knowledge Sharing Effort (KSE)
 In the early 1990s, Knowledge Sharing Effort (KSE) was formed &
sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
 The Knowledge-Sharing Effort (KSE) is an initiative to develop the
technical infrastructure to support the sharing of knowledge among
autonomous information systems
 The goal of this effort is to develop a technology that will enable
researchers to develop new systems
 Participation by dozens of researchers in academia and industry

5. Knowledge Sharing Effort (KSE)
 The KSE generated two main deliverables as follows:
i. The Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language (KQML)
ii. The Knowledge Interchange Format (KIF)

6. Knowledge Interchange Format (KIF)
 KIF is a computer-oriented language for the interchange of knowledge
 This language was originally developed with the intent of being a
common language for expressing properties & representing knowledge
of a particular domain
 It was not intended to be a language in which messages themselves
would be expressed
 KIF is a Langauge for expressing message content

7. Knowledge Interchange Format (KIF)
 KIF is used to state:
i. Properties of things in a Domain (e.g. ‘John is a Chairman‘)
ii. Relationships between things in a Domain (e.g. 'Michael is Janine’s
Boss')
iii. General properties of a Domain (e.g. 'everybody has a mother')

8. Knowledge Interchange Format (KIF)
 “The temperature of m1 is 83 Celsius”:
(= (temperature m1) (scalar 83 Celsius))
 “An object is a bachelor if the object is a man and is not married”:
(defrelation bachelor (?x) :=
(and (man ?x) (not (married ?x))))
 “Any individual with the property of being a person also has the property
of being a mammal”:
(defrelation person (?x) :=> (mammal ?x))

9. Knowledge Query and Manipulation
Language (KQML)
 KQML is a message-based language for agent communication. Thus
KQML defines a common format for messages
 It was developed by the ARPA-supported Knowledge Sharing Effort and
independently implemented by several research groups
 KQML is a language that is designed to support interaction among
intelligent software agents
 The KQML language simplifies its implementation by allowing KQML
messages to carry useful information:
Such as the names and addresses of the sending and receiving agents,
a unique message identifier, and notations by agents

10. Knowledge Query and Manipulation
Language (KQML)
 KQML is a language that defines various acceptable ‘communicative
verbs’, or Performatives (such as: ask, reply)
 Example Performatives:
• ask-if (‘is it true that. . . ’)
• perform (‘please perform the following action. . . ’)
• tell (‘it is true that. . . ’)
• reply (‘the answer is . . . ’)

11. KQML: The 3 Layers
Communication Layer
Mechanics of communication, e.g. Sender, receiver
Performatives (Message Layer)
Specifies the actual content of the message
e.g. a KIF expression
Content Layer
Logic of communication, The set of performatives provided by the language e.g. ask, tell

12. KQML Example
 (ask-one
: content (PRICE IBM ?price)
: receiver stock-server
: language LPROLOG
: ontology NYSE-TICKS 1
)
 The intuitive interpretation of this message is that the sender is asking
about the price of IBM stock

13. The Foundation for Intelligent Physical
Agents (FIPA)
 In 1995, the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) began its work
on developing standards for agent systems
 The Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) is a non-profit
association
 FIPA’s purpose is to promote the success of emerging agent-based
applications, services and equipment
 FIPA operates through the open international collaboration of member
organisations: companies, universities and government organisations
 The most important difference between the KQML & FIPA is in the
collection of performatives they provide

14. FIPA
 Here is an example of a I FIPA ACL message
( inform
:sender agent1
: receiver agent2
:content (price good2 150)
:language sl
: onto1ogy hpl –auction
)