Port-based Adaptive Agent Architecture

Advanced Features Tutorial

This tutorial covers some of the more advanced features of the Port-based Adaptive Agent Architecture(PB3A). Specifically, we'll be covering:

how to create a port-based agent (PBAgent) with persistent state,
how to edit that state in Module Manager,
how to use a PBAgent whose execution is triggered by an event,
how to use port-based macros,
and how to create port-based drivers.

This tutorial assumes the following:

that you have at least java version 1.1.7b,
that you have PB3A,
know how to start and use the basic components (Directory Server, Agent Server, Coordinator, Net Controller, and Module Manager),
can compose and execute systems using Module Manager,
and are able to write an ordinary loop-based agent. (See the basic tutorial for more information on doing these things.)

For the first four sections of this tutorial we will be using and editing a pair of agents: one that outputs a square wave and another that displays a waveform to the screen. Create a subdirectory in your adaptive/agents directory called tutor. Here is the source code for the agents we will be editing: PBASquareWave.java and PBAWaveDisplay.java. Also, here is the source for WaveFrame.java, a class required by PBAWaveDisplay. Save all three files in adaptive/agents/tutor.

These tutorials are intended to be done in order, as many require changes to the agents that are written in the tutorials preceding them. However, as it does not use the agents listed above, the Port-based Drivers tutorial can be done separately.

Editing

Here are links to the final versions of PBASquareWave and PBAWaveDisplay.

Tutorials Home Start tutorial

Last modified: Fri May 19 14:52:23 EDT 2000