Abstract The use of agent systems has increased enormously, especially in the field of mobile services. Intelligent services have also increased rapidly in the web. In this thesis, the utilization of software agent technology in mobile services and decentralized intelligent services in the multimedia business is introduced and described. Both Genie Agent Architecture (GAA) and Decentralized International and Intelligent Software Architecture (DIISA) are described. The common problems in decentralized software systems are lack of intelligence, communication of software modules and system learning. Another problem is the personalization of users and services. A third problem is the matching of users and service characteristics in web application level in a non-linear way. In this case it means that web services follow human steps and are capable of learning from human inputs and their characteristics in an intelligent way. This third problem is addressed in this thesis and solutions are presented with two intelligent software architectures and services. The solutions of the thesis are based on a combination of neural network and agent technology. To be more specific, solutions are based on an intelligent agent which uses certain black box information like Self-Organized Map (SOM). This process is as follows; information agents collect information from different sources like the web, databases, users, other software agents and the environment. Information is filtered and adapted for input vectors. Maps are created from a data entry of an SOM. Using maps is very simple, input forms are completed by users (automatically or manually) or user agents. Input vectors are formed again and sent to a certain map. The map gives several outputs which are passed through specific algorithms. This information is passed to an intelligent agent. The needs for web intelligence and knowledge representation serving users is a current issue in many business solutions. The main goal is to enable this by means of autonomous agents which communicate with each other using an agent communication language and with users using their native languages via several communication channels.

The aim of this thesis is to implement the agent platform for SunSpot sensor nodes. Reader is firstly presented with introduction to wireless sensor networks and the SunSpot sensor nodes. The thesis then describes the terms agent, agent platform and BDI agent. Then the description of ALLL language and related agent platform called WSageNt is presented. The rest of thesis deals with the concept and implementation of compatible agent plaform for SunSpot sensor nodes. The final part discusses results of work, compatibility with WSageNt platform and possible extensions.

e-Learning is becoming an influential role as an economic method and a flexible mode of study in the institutions of higher education today which has a presence in an increasing number of college and university courses. e-Learning as system of systems is a dynamic and scalable environment. Within this environment, e-learning is still searching for a permanent, comfortable and serviceable position that is to be controlled, managed, flexible, accessible and continually up-to-date with the wider university structure. As most academic and business institutions and training centres around the world have adopted the e-learning concept and technology in order to create, deliver and manage their learning materials through the web, it has become the focus of investigation. However, management, monitoring and collaboration between these institutions and centres are limited. Existing technologies such as grid, web services and agents are promising better results. In this research a new architecture has been developed and adopted to make the e-learning environment more dynamic and scalable by dividing it into regional data grids which are managed and monitored by agents. Multi-agent technology has been applied to integrate each regional data grid with others in order to produce an architecture which is more scalable, reliable, and efficient. The result we refer to as Regionally Distributed Architecture for Dynamic e-Learning Environment (RDADeLE). Our RDADeLE architecture is an agent-based grid environment which is composed of components such as learners, staff, nodes, regional grids, grid services and Learning Objects (LOs). These components are built and organised as a multi-agent system (MAS) using the Java Agent Development (JADE) platform. The main role of the agents in our architecture is to control and monitor grid components in order to build an adaptable, extensible, and flexible grid-based e-learning system. Two techniques have been developed and adopted in the architecture to build LOs' information and grid services. The first technique is the XML-based Registries Technique (XRT). In this technique LOs' information is built using XML registries to be discovered by the learners. The registries are written in Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) format. The second technique is the Registered-based Services Technique (RST). In this technique the services are grid services which are built using agents. The services are registered with the Directory Facilitator (DF) of a JADE platform in order to be discovered by all other components. All components of the RDADeLE system, including grid service, are built as a multi-agent system (MAS). Each regional grid in the first technique has only its own registry, whereas in the second technique the grid services of all regional grids have to be registered with the DF. We have evaluated the RDADeLE system guided by both techniques by building a simulation of the prototype. The prototype has a main interface which consists of the name of the system (RDADeLE) and a specification table which includes Number of Regional Grids, Number of Nodes, Maximum Number of Learners connected to each node, and Number of Grid Services to be filled by the administrator of the RDADeLE system in order to create the prototype. Using the RST technique shows that the RDADeLE system can be built with more regional grids with less memory consumption. Moreover, using the RST technique shows that more grid services can be registered in the RDADeLE system with a lower average search time and the search performance is increased compared with the XRT technique. Finally, using one or both techniques, the XRT or the RST, in the prototype does not affect the reliability of the RDADeLE system.

Abstract The Internet of Things vision proposes a global platform in an unforeseen scale for distributed applications that rely on data provided by interconnected resource-constrained things. In such large-scale systems, centralized control of system operation by a single component through vertical interactions becomes unfeasible. Ideally, decentralized control in the proximity of things enables to take into account the local dynamic resource availability and environmental characteristics that are used to optimize the application execution. To realize decentralization, capabilities for horizontal interactions, that complement the vertical interactions, and for opportunistic participation of things are needed. This thesis explores mobile agent technology to implement distributed Internet of Things applications that benefit from both vertical and horizontal interactions of the application components. First, a resource-oriented reactive mobile agent architecture and a software framework are presented. The framework facilitates RESTful interactions between agents and other system components and provides a REST-based interface to build opportunistic agent-based applications. Two agent platforms are presented that integrate resource-constrained things into the framework as mobile agent hosts. Second, mobile agent based mobile crowdsensing and edge computing applications are evaluated with large-scale simulations and real-world experiments. The results show that energy consumption is decreased in the participating things, in comparison with the existing approaches, by agent-based in-network data processing and control of the thing operation. This thesis makes a valuable contribution by enabling mobile agent operations in a heterogeneous set of resource-constrained things. The presented empirical evidence shows how mobile agent technology increases energy efficiency in distributed application execution. The presented mobile agent architecture and software framework potentially accelerate the utilization of mobile agent technology in the Internet of Things. / Tiivistelmä Esineiden Internet liittää resurssirajoitteiset sulautetut laitteet laajamittaisesti Internet-verkkoon, jossa niiden tuottamaa tietoa hyödynnetään hajautettujen järjestelmien sovelluksissa. Esineiden Internetin järjestelmien odotetaan skaalautuvan niin laajoiksi, ettei keskitetty, vertikaaliseen vuorovaikutukseen perustuva järjestelmähallinta ole enää käyttökelpoinen ratkaisu. Hajautettu hallinta lähellä tietoa tuottavia laitteita tuo etuja, kun paikallisesti sovelluksen suorituksessa otetaan huomioon toimintaympäristön tila ja voidaan reagoida dynaamisesti resurssien saatavuuteen. Hajautus Esineiden Internetin sovellusalustoilla edellyttää menetelmiä sekä laitteiden vertikaaliseen ja horisontaaliseen vuorovaikutukseen, että niiden dynaamisen osallistumisen mahdollistamiseksi sovelluksen suorittamisessa. Tässä työssä tutkittiin mobiiliagentti-teknologiaa hajautettujen sovellusten toteuttamiseen Esineiden Internet-ympäristössä. Työssä esitettiin resurssisuuntautunut arkkitehtuuri reaktiivisille mobiiliagenteille sekä ohjelmistokehys, joita käyttäen voidaan toteuttaa agenttipohjaisia hajautettuja sovelluksia. Ohjelmistokehys perustuu REST-arkkitehtuurimalliin, jonka pohjalta esitettiin yhdenmukainen rajapinta agenttien ja järjestelmäkomponenttien väliseen vuorovaikutukseen. Ohjelmistokehyksen osana toteutettiin kaksi mobiiliagentti-ohjelmistoalustaa resurssirajoitteisille sulautetuille laitteille. Työssä tarkasteltiin mobiiliagentti-pohjaisten Esineiden Internet-sovellusten energiatehokkuutta simuloinneilla sekä tosielämän kokeilla. Tarkastelun kohteeksi valittiin joukkoistettu mobiilihavainnointi sekä reunalaskennan ulottaminen resurssirajoitteisiin laitteisiin. Saadut tulokset osoittavat, että laitteiden energiankulutusta voidaan pienentää verrattuna aiemmin esitettyihin ratkaisuihin hyödyntämällä mobiiliagentteja tiedonkäsittelyyn laitteessa sekä laitteen toiminnan ohjaamiseen. Työssä esitetty resurssisuuntautunut mobiiliagenttiarkkitehtuuri sekä ohjelmistokehys edesauttavat mobiiliagentti-teknologian hyödyntämistä resurssirajoitteisissa sulautetuissa laitteissa. Tosielämän kokeista saadut tulokset osoittavat mobiiliagenttiteknologian hyötyjä hajautettujen sovellusten toteuttamisessa Esineiden Internetiin.

Portable languages and distributed paradigms have driven a wave of new applications and processing models. One of the most promising, certainly from its early marketing, but disappointing (from its limited uptake)is the mobile agent execution and data processing model. Mobile agents are autonomous programs which can move around a heterogeneous network such as the Internet, crossing through a number of different security domains, and perform some work at each visited destination as partial completion of a mission for their agent user. Despite their promise as a technology and paradigm to drive global electronic services (i.e.any Internet-driven-and-delivered service, not solely e-commerce related activities), their up take on the Internet has been very limited. Chief among the reasons for the paradigm's practical under-achievement is there is no ubiquitous frame work for using Internet mobile agents, and non-trivial security concerns abound for the two major stake holders (mobile agent users and mobile agent platform owners). While both stake holders have security concerns with the dangers of the mobile agent processing model, most investigators in the field are of the opinion that protecting mobile agents from malicious agent platforms is more problematic than protecting agent platforms from malicious mobile agents. Traditional cryptographic mechanisms are not well-suited to counter the bulk of the threats associated with the mobile agent paradigm due to the untrusted hosting of an agent and its intended autonomous, flexible movement and processing. In our investigation, we identified that the large majority of the research undertaken on mobile agent security to date has taken a micro-level perspective. By this we mean research focused solely on either of the two major stakeholders, and even then often only on improving measures to address one security issue dear to the stake holder - for example mobile agent privacy (for agent users) or access control to platform resources (for mobile agent platform owners). We decided to take a more encompassing, higher-level approach in tackling mobile agent security issues. In this endeavour, we developed the beginnings of an infrastructural-approach to not only reduce the security concerns of both major stakeholders, but bring them transparently to a working relationship. Strategic utilisation of both existing distributed system trusted-third parties (TTPs) and novel mobile agent paradigm-specific TTPs are fundamental in the infrastructural framework we have devised. Besides designing an application and language independent frame work for supporting a large-scale Internet mobile agent network, our Mobile Agent Secure Hub Infrastructure (MASHIn) proposal encompasses support for flexible access control to agent platform resources. A reliable means to track the location and processing times of autonomous Internet mobile agents is discussed, withfault-tolerant handling support to work around unexpected processing delays. Secure,highly-effective (incomparison to existing mechanisms) strategies for providing mobile agent privacy, execution integrity, and stake holder confidence scores were devised - all which fit comfortably within the MASHIn framework. We have deliberately considered the interests - withoutbias -of both stake holders when designing our solutions. In relation to mobile agent execution integrity, we devised a new criteria for assessing the robustness of existing execution integrity schemes. Whilst none of the existing schemes analysed met a large number of our desired properties for a robust scheme, we identified that the objectives of Hohl's reference states scheme were most admirable - particularly real - time in - mission execution integrity checking. Subsequently, we revised Hohl's reference states protocols to fit in the MASHIn framework, and were able to overcome not only the two major limitations identified in his scheme, but also meet all of our desired properties for a robust execution integrity scheme (given an acceptable decrease in processing effiency). The MASHIn offers a promising new perspective for future mobile agent security research and indeed a new frame work for enabling safe and autonomous Internet mobile agents. Just as an economy cannot thrive without diligent care given to micro and macro-level issues, we do not see the security prospects of mobile agents (and ultimately the prospects of the mobile agent paradigm) advancing without diligent research on both levels.