A2 : an architectural agent in a collaborative engineering environment

Abstract: "This report describes the functionality of the Architectural Agent (A2) developed by a team at CMU as part of the USACERL- sponsored ACL (Investigation of an Agent Communication Language) project, which addresses communication issues in a distributed computer-supported building design environment. The core functionality of A2 consists of generating schematic layouts of the functional units in a spatial program; this functionality is provided by using SEED-Layout (SL) as a server; SL is a module in the Software Environment to Support the Early Phases in Building Design (SEED) currently under development at the EDRC. A2 is in addition served by the object database UniSQL and AutoCAD, used strictly for display purposes. These diverse components communicate through a message server with each other and a facilitator API provided by another team. The communication protocol and data translations are based on an active object model expressed in the specification language OML developed by the CMU team explicitly for the ACL project. The CMU team also suggests an approach toward conflict management and negotiation for an environment like ACL and describes an OML-based protocol that implements the approach. It offers general conclusions about relevant aspects of the ACL project."