3 Agent-based systems
This chapter covers
- How edge computing makes use of agent-based systems
- Defining agents and using them to perform functions
- Agent topologies and communication protocols
- Pitfalls to avoid in using agent-based systems
- Using edge computing to connect local resources to the cloud
In the previous chapter we introduced an edge-computing testbed that took the form of a single agent that was used to run a small number of functions. Agents are a central concept of any edge-computing framework and your use-case could involve hundreds of them spread across your company network performing thousands of tasks, some of which may work collectively for many different applications; thus it’s important to have a general understanding of how they are set up and function. This chapter presents a bottom-up look at the fundamentals of how agents and agent-based systems are used in edge computing.