MAGENTA technology: multi-agent systems for industrial logistics
We introduce MAGENTA'S commercial multi-agent systems technology, and illustrate its practical use by describing a field-tested application in the area of logistics/scheduling. MAGENTA technology provides two integrated toolsets for building industrial-strength systems: the Ontology Management Toolkit (which enables designers to capture the concepts and interrelationships between concepts in an application), and the Virtual Marketplace Engine (the platform supporting agent interaction in MAGENTA'S technology); in addition, run-time visualisation and monitoring tools are provided for debugging systems. The application we describe is a field-tested scheduling/logistics system for Tankers International, which provides intelligent support in the scheduling of a 46-strong Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) fleet.