The field training of army units includes high financial, material and human resource investments. From this reason, an emphasis on the simulator training of these units arised recently. But the training in simulator needs to have the simulated units as intelligent as a human beings are, so the field training with real human opponents can be successfully replaced with the simulator training. This work deals with the design of fighting unit's intelligent behaviour, that will be applicable in the E-COM simulator environment. Work covers the description of intelligent agents and ways how to achieve their rational and autonomous behaviour. The proposal and the analysis of intelligent fighting unit's implementation and unit's communication with surrounding environment, basic implementation of this proposal and experiments with created implementation are also described in this work.

Present-day Agent Based Modelling is used to simulate complex systems in which agents are explicitly heterogeneous. Researchers within the field of ABM have a set of tools at their disposal, yet little is known about the usability and learnability of these systems. Information Architecture establishes a set of guidelines for constructing digital spaces that facilitate the fulfilment of the user’s goal; these guidelines are expressed as Principles of Information Architecture and categories of user behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to determine the needs of ABM researchers and explore how scientific software can be improved to better support them in their work. A System Usability Scale questionnaire quantifies the current level of usability on ABM frameworks while semi-structured interviews with six expert modellers provide data on user needs and user behaviour. The participants are allowed to review more than one ABM framework by means of questionnaires and a cognitive walkthrough that exposes GUI elements and other framework features linked to procedural steps of modelling. Information Architecture principles are exposed in each interface along with user behaviour categories. Albeit limited in its scope of participants, the survey with in-depth interviews provides valuable information on the needs of domain experts. Data is analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively; the paper follows, therefore, a mixed-method approach. It is proven that, at the present moment, most ABM frameworks fail to meet established standards for usability and learnability. User needs are exposed through an analysis of the data reported by experts. Finally, considerations are presented upon the impact of implementing Information Architecture guidelines within ABM frameworks.

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Cette thèse présente PARDISIM, un modèle de simulation qui propose uneapproche économique institutionnelle pour la simulation du processus dedéveloppement résidentiel. Plutôt que de modéliser le développement résidentielcomme le résultat de choix de localisation au niveau des ménages, PARDISIMmet l’accent sur les objectifs et les interactions des acteurs du développementrésidentiel. L’idée est que les acteurs du développement, y compris les au-torités publiques d’aménagement, jouent un rôle important dans le processusde développement résidentiel. L’approche est donc top-down et se démarquedes approches habituelles bottom-up. Les premiers résultats obtenus montrentque PARDISIM est capable de produire des configurations spatiales réalistes. / This thesis presents PARDISIM, a simulation model that takes an institutionaleconomic approach in the simulation of the residential development process.Rather then modelling the residential development as the result of locationchoices at household level, PARDISIM focusses on the objectives and interac-tions of development actors. The idea behind this approach is that developmentactors, including public planning authorities, play an important role in the pro-cess of residential development. The model is top-down whereas the most recentefforts by other scholars focus instead on a bottom-up approach. Initial testingshows that PARDISIM is capable of producing realistic spatial patterns. / Dit proefschrift presenteert PARDISIM, een simulatiemodel dat een institu-tioneel economische benadering toepast in de simulatie van de ontwikkeling vanwoningbouw. In plaats van deze ontwikkeling te definiëren als gevolg van locatiekeuzes op huishoudniveau, richt PARDISIM zich op de doelstellingen en de in-teracties van actoren met een professioneel belang in de stedelijke ontwikkeling.Het idee achter deze aanpak is dat deze actoren, waaronder ondermeer localeoverheden, een belangrijke rol spelen in het proces van de ontwikkeling vanwoningbouw. Het model is top-down terwijl de meest recente inspanningen inde literatuur een bottom-up benadering toepassen. Uit de eerste testresultatenblijkt dat PARDISIM in staat is realistische, ruimtelijke configuraties te pro-duceren.

Many real-world decision processes require solving optimization problems which may involve different types of constraints such as inequality and equality constraints. The hurdles in solving these Constrained Optimization Problems (COPs) arise from the challenge of searching a huge variable space in order to locate feasible points with acceptable solution quality. Over the last decades Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) have brought a tremendous advancement in the area of computer science and optimization with their ability to solve various problems. However, EAs have inherent difficulty in dealing with constraints when solving COPs. This thesis presents a new Agent-based Memetic Algorithm (AMA) for solving COPs, where the agents have the ability to independently select a suitable Life Span Learning Process (LSLP) from a set of LSLPs. Each agent represents a candidate solution of the optimization problem and tries to improve its solution through cooperation with other agents. Evolutionary operators consist of only crossover and one of the self-adaptively selected LSLPs. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested on benchmark problems, and the experimental results show convincing performance. The quality of individuals in the initial population influences the performance of evolutionary algorithms, especially when the feasible region of the constrained optimization problems is very tiny in comparison to the entire search space. This thesis proposes a method that improves the quality of randomly generated initial solutions by sacrificing very little in diversity of the population. The proposed Search Space Reduction Technique (SSRT) is tested using five different existing EAs, including AMA, by solving a number of state-of-the-art test problems and a real world case problem. The experimental results show SSRT improves the solution quality, and speeds up the performance of the algorithms. The handling of equality constraints has long been a difficult issue for evolutionary optimization methods, although several methods are available in the literature for handling functional constraints. In any optimization problems with equality constraints, to satisfy the condition of feasibility and optimality the solution points must lie on each and every equality constraint. This reduces the size of the feasible space and makes it difficult for EAs to locate feasible and optimal solutions. A new Equality Constraint Handling Technique (ECHT) is presented in this thesis, to enhance the performance of AMA in solving constrained optimization problems with equality constraints. The basic concept is to reach a point on the equality constraint from its current position by the selected individual solution and then explore on the constraint landscape. The technique is used as an agent learning process in AMA. The experimental results confirm the improved performance of the proposed algorithm. This thesis also proposes a Modified Genetic Algorithm (MGA) for solving COPs with equality constraints. After achieving inspiring performance in AMA when dealing with equality constraints, the new technique is used in the design of MGA. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm overcomes the limitations of GA in solving COPs with equality constraints, and provides good quality solutions.

Cette thèse présente l'utilisation conjointe de la théorie de l'évidente et du suivi multi-hypothèses pour la modélisation et la gestion d'un système de suivi multi-caméras dans un environnement autoroutier. Le suivi est basé sur la ré-identification des objets (véhicules) sur la base d'information visio-temporelles. Une concrétisation de ces concepts se traduit par la conception et la mise en oeuvre d'une architecture logicielle multi-agents de gestion du suivi multi-caméras. Après une présentation de l'état de l'art sur les cadres de gestion de l'incertain et celui relatif à fusion de l'information pour la mise en correspondance, et sur les systèmes multi-agents, notre apport dans ce travail se situe à trois niveaux. Le premier a été une adaptation de la phase de décision du modèle de croyance transférable pour y intégrer l'utilisation du suivi multi-hypothèses comme outil de levée d'ambigüité rn cas d'indécision face à une situation de mise en correspondance. Le second apport a été celui de proposer une architecture logicielle à base d'agents pour la gestion du système du suivi multi-caméras. Nous en avons proposé la modélisation globale ainsi que celle des agents et de leurs interactions en utilisant une démarche personnelle d'analyse mais toutefois inspirée de langages et outils de modélisation tels que Agent UML et MaSE pour ne citer que ceux-là, du fait qu'il n'existe pas réellement un standard normalisé à ce jour dans ce domaine. Notre troisième apport a été de faire un début d'implémentation de notre architecture logicielle à base d'agent en nous basant sur la plateforme JADE (Java Agent DEvelopment Framework). Quelques expérimentations et discussions des résultats sont présentées à la fin pour déboucher sur nos conclusions et perspectives. / This thesis presents the joint use of the theory of evidence and multiple hypothesis tracking for modeling and managing a system for monitoring multiple cameras in a motorway. The tracking is based on the re-identification of objects (vehicles) on the basis of visuals and times informations. A realization of these concepts results in the design and implementation of a software architecture for multiple agents management of multiple camera tracking system. After presenting the state of the art on the frameworks of uncertainty management and that on information fusion for the matching, and the multi-agent systems, our contribution in this work is on two or three levels. The first was an adaptation of the decision phase of the transferable belief model to incorporate the use of multi-hypotheses tracking as a tool of ambiguity survey in case of indecision in matching situation. The second contribution was a proposition of agent-based software architecture for management of a multiple cameras tracking system. We have proposed the global system modeling as well as agents and their interactions modeling using a personal analysis method but nevertheless inspired by modelisation languages and tolls such as Agent UML, MaSE and others, because there is not yet a standard and normalized tool on the subject. Our third contribution was to begin an implementation of our agent-based software architecture using JADE (Java Agent Development Framework). Some experiment and discussions are presented at the end to lead to our conclusions and perspectives.

This term project desribes simulator of multiagent system implementation. It explains basic concepts of agent and multiagent systems. Simulator is implemented as a separated object, which allows to join various models of environment and agents acting in this environment. Evaluation of several types of agent cooperation behavior is in last section of this project.

Le développement et la multiplication des systèmes et plateformes informatiques pour accéder à de l'information ne fait que s'accentuer depuis une trentaine d'années. Le grand volume d'information disponible a soulevé de nombreux défis scientifiques dans des domaines tel que la recherche d'information. Pour accéder à des documents regroupés dans un corpus numérique, il faut être en mesure d'exprimer son besoin en information, souvent sous la forme d'une requête, d'y associer les documents pertinents et de les présenter de la meilleure manière possible aux utilisateurs. La recherche documentaire dans un corpus documentaire thématique présentant un haut niveau de technicité dans la discipline concernée s'apparente à un processus de navigation guidé par un besoin d'information d'un utilisateur. Cette navigation nécessite l'usage d'outils classiques de recherche d'information pour sélectionner des documents pertinents en fonction d'une requête, mais ils doivent être complétés par des mécanismes de personnalisation et d'adaptation capable de faire évoluer la représentation du besoin en fonction des spécificités d'un utilisateur, de sa navigation en cours ou du corpus considéré. En effet, l'accès aux documents d'un corpus numérique soulève des problèmes liés à la recherche d'information, à la visualisation des résultats d'une requête et à la navigation entre les documents. Le processus de recherche d'information nécessite des améliorations et surtout l'intégration de l'utilisateur comme facteur principal à prendre en compte dans la recherche de satisfaction de son besoin informationnel. Nous considérons plusieurs approches pour aider un utilisateur dans sa recherche de documents. Une première assistance porte sur la reformulation de requêtes en visant un public d'utilisateurs peu familier avec les termes techniques du domaine et en difficulté pour exprimer sous la forme d'une requête leur besoin. La deuxième approche que nous proposons consiste à ne pas considérer l'utilisateur isolément mais à le rapprocher de ceux ayant exprimé des recherches similaires pour retrouver les documents qu'ils avaient jugés pertinents. Enfin, nous incluons des travaux issus du domaine de la recommandation afin de mieux cerner le besoin informationnel de l'utilisateur et l'aider à trouver plus facilement ce qu'il cherche en lui recommandant des ressources documentaires. Nous proposons dans cette thèse de traiter cette diversité d'influence par un système multi-agent interagissant par un environnement partagé représentant la navigation des utilisateurs, de manière à pouvoir adapter le système en utilisant l'une ou l'autre des techniques d'assistance proposées en fonction de l'expertise de l'utilisateur. Ce travail a été appliqué à une recherche documentaire dans un corpus numérique de documents juridiques. / The development and multiplication of information systems and platforms for information access has been accentuated over the past thirty years. The large volume of information available has raised many scientific challenges in different areas such as information retrieval. To access documents grouped in a digital corpus, one must be able to express his/her information need, often in the form of a query, to associate the relevant documents and present them in the best possible way to users. Document research in a thematic digital corpus presenting a high level of technicality in the concerned discipline can be considered as a browsing process driven by some information needs. Such browses requires the use of traditional information retrieval tools to select relevant documents based on a query But they can be improved by the use of customization and adaptation mechanisms in order to refine the representation of information needs according to the specificities of a user, his current browsing or the corpus considered. Indeed, access to digital documents raises problems related to the search for information, the visualization of the results of a query and the browsing between the documents. The process of information retrieval requires to be improved and especially by the integration of the user as a main factor to take into account in the search for satisfaction of his/her information needs. We consider several approaches to help users in their search for documents. A first assistance concerns the reformulation of queries by targeting an audience of users unfamiliar with the technical terms of the field and struggling to express in the form of a query their need. The second approach that we propose is not to consider the user in isolation but to bring it closer to those who have expressed similar research to find the documents they considered relevant. Finally, we include works from the field of the recommendation to better understand the informational needs of the user and help them find what they are looking for by recommending documentary resources. In this thesis, we propose to treat this diversity of influence by a multi-agent system interacting with a shared environment representing the users browsing so that the system may be adapted to use either assistance facilities according to the user's expertise. We applied our work for document research in a digital corpus of legal documents.

In community planning, accessibility is a recurring concept. The concept has also time and time again proved to have a great impact on how well an area develops. Its important role in community planning has resulted in a large amount of research in the field. The meaning and definition of the term varies markedly depending on the context and there are several different methods and tools for measuring accessibility. This creates a problem for decision makers to be able to take the planning options that will generate the greatest availability. Agent-based decision support systems are a decision support system that is currently receiving a great deal of attention in the literature. Real systems of interest are implemented in a simulation program to be able to support decision-making. The purpose of the study is to examine the decision materials for community planning that are used to increase different perspectives on accessibility and how agent-based modeling could be used. In the study, a categorization has been developed based on different models to measure accessibility based on existing literature. The study is based on a deductive approach and builds on existing literature. Through interviews with regions, municipalities and the Swedish Transport Administration, the current situation for the decision basis for community planning that is used to increase different perspectives on accessibility has been mapped. The interviews and categorization will also look at the future role of agent-based modeling as decision support in planning different perspectives on accessibility. The study shows that there is a need for clearer routines linked to the work with accessibility and an increased use of GIS, this could be obtained from an ABDS tool. Several advantages of ABDS systems have been identified, such as clarifying the concept of accessibility and how it is affected by different alternatives. There are also several future challenges for the use of the system, such as the problem that selected algorithms have a major impact on the results. / I samhällsplanering är tillgänglighet ett återkommande begrepp. Begreppet har även gång på gång visat sig ha en stor påverkan för hur väl ett område utvecklas. Dess viktiga roll i samhällsplaneringen har resulterat i en stor mängd forskning inom området. Begreppets innebörd och definition varierar markant beroende på sammanhang och det finns flertal olika metoder och verktyg för att mäta tillgänglighet. Detta skapar en problematik för beslutsfattare att kunna ta de planeringsalternativ som kommer att generera den största tillgängligheten. Agentbaserade beslutsstödsystem (ABDS) är ett beslutsstödsystem som för närvarande uppmärksammas väldigt mycket i litteraturen. Verkliga system av intresse implementeras i ett simuleringsprogram för att kunna stödja beslutsfattande. Syftet med studien är att undersöka beslutsunderlagen för samhällsplanering som används för att öka olika perspektiv på tillgänglighet samt hur agentbaserad modellering skulle kunna nyttjas. I studien har en formell värderingsmodell tagits fram utifrån olika perspektiv på tillgänglighet baserat på existerande litteratur. Studien baseras på en deduktiv ansats och bygger vidare från existerande litteratur. Genom intervjuer med regioner, kommuner och Trafikverket har nuläget för beslutsunderlagen för samhällsplanering som används för att öka olika perspektiv på tillgänglighet kartlagts. Intervjuerna och värderingsmodellen kommer även se till den framtida roll som agentbaserad modellerings som beslutsstöd har vid planering av olika perspektiv på tillgänglighet. Studien visar på att det finns ett behov för tydligare rutiner kopplade till arbetet med tillgänglighet samt en ökad användning av GIS, detta skulle kunna erhållas av ett ABDS-verktyg. Det har identifierats flertal fördelar med ABDS-system såsom att tydliggöra begreppet tillgänglighet och hur den påverkas av olika alternativ. Det finns även flertal framtida utmaningar för användning av systemet som t.ex. problemet att utvalda algoritmer har en stor inverkan på resultaten.

Understanding how innovations are accepted in a dynamic and complex market environment is a crucial factor for competitive advantage. To understand the relevant factors for this diffusion and to predict success, empirically grounded agent-based models have become increasingly popular in recent years. Despite the popularity of these innovation diffusion models, no common framework that integrates their diversity exists. This article presents a flexible, modular and extensible common description and implementation framework that allows to depict the large variety of model components found in existing models. The framework aims to provide a theoretically grounded description and implementation framework for empirically grounded agent-based models of innovation diffusion. It identifies 30 component requirements to conceptualize an integrated formal framework description. Based on this formal description, a java-based implementation allowing for flexible configuration of existing and future models of innovation diffusion is developed. As a variable decision support tool in decision-making processes on the adoption of innovations the framework is valuable for the investigation of a range of research questions on innovation diffusion, business model evaluation and infrastructure transformation.