An Agent-Based Framework for Nomadic Computing

Nomadic computing can greatly benefit from the integration of personal mobility and program mobility technologies. This paper describes how to enhance a mobile agents platform with a set of facilities that provide mobile users with global access to agent-based applications, regardless of user location and terminal capabilities. We exploited the idea of making it possible for users to keep in touch with their agents by using a Web browser and common messaging facilities. Basically, our framework provides a GUI interface that allows users to manage their agent-based applications and define how to interact with them. The initial goal has been broadened with mechanisms that make it possible for users to communicate with agents using both the GSM short messages system and email, and make agents able to adapt presentation of results to different computing/communicating devices.