Coordinating International Shipping Steven Y. Goldsmith Laurence R. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Steven Y. Goldsmith Laurence R. Phillips Shannon V. Spires Advanced Information Systems Laboratory Sandia National Laboratories* MS 0455, Org. 6232 Albuquerque NM 87185-5800

(sygolds, lrphill, svspire @sandia.gov)

(505)-845-8926 (505) 845-8846 www.aisl.sandia.gov *Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States

Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

The Border Trade Facilitation System

I

Background: The Border Trade Environment (What’s the problem?)

II

Motivation for a Multi-agent Architecture (Why use agents?)

III Standard Agent Framework

(How do our agents work?)

IV Agent Tasks & Collaboration

(What do our border trade agents do?) V Conclusions and Lessons Learned (What did we learn?)

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

• I. Background: The Border Crossing Environment

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

The Maquiladora Shipping Process

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

BTFS Shipment

Transaction

CONSIGNEE EXIT BROKER MONITOR CARRIER RECEIVAL SHIPPER ROUTE PLAN POEx REGULATOR

EXIT

DECLARATION

CONTAINER ROUTE PLAN

EXIT

ACKNOWLEG E

EXIT

DECLARATION ENTRY

BROKER POEn REGULATOR

ENTRY DECLARATION ENTRY ACKNOWLEGE ENTRY DECLARATION

SHIPPER SHIPPER SHIPPER ORIGINATOR SHIPPER ROUTE PLAN

ACTORS COLLABORATE THROUGH THE SHIPMENT OBJECT

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

To Txa Td Txd Tna Tnd ORIG Rx

POEx POEn

Rn

DEST CONT

PRE- TRANSIT TRANSIT x BORDER CROSSING TRANSIT n POST TRANSIT

CONTAINER STATE To Txa Td Tna ORIG Rx POEx POEn Rn DEST INFOx

PRE- TRANSIT TRANSIT x BORDER CROSSING TRANSIT n POST TRANSIT

INFORMATION STATE INFOn To Txa Td Txd Tna Tnd ORIG Rx POEx POEn Rn DEST CONT

PRE- TRANSIT TRANSIT x BORDER CROSSING TRANSIT n POST TRANSIT

CONTAINER STATE To Txa Td Tna ORIG Rx POEx POEn Rn DEST INFOx

PRE- TRANSIT TRANSIT x BORDER CROSSING TRANSIT n POST TRANSIT

INFORMATION STATE INFOn

ARRIVES (INFOx, POEx, t1 ) Λ ARRIVES (CONT, POEx, t2 ) Λ t2 > t1

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

PRE- TRANSIT

TRANSIT X

BORDER CROSSING

TRANSIT N

POST TRANSIT

Create Shipper Assign Container Create Entry Plan R & R Exit Declaration at POEx R & R Entry Declaration at POEn Create Exit Plan Create Route Plan Create Reciever Report Container Status

Major Information Processing Tasks

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Direction: Southbound POE: El Paso/Ysleta BDEL: I-25 S/Raton,NM Container: CSX-A24956 Carrier : CSX Inc. Conveyance: MA: JBG-1::Diesel Tractor-Trailer Raton, NM Las Vegas, NM Santa Fe, NM Albuquerque, NM Socorro, NM

8:25 am MDT 11:00 am MDT 11:35 am MDT 12:20 am MDT 1:35 pm MDT

T or C, NM 2:35 pm MDT 9:35 am MDT

B

Las Cruces, NM

4:10 pm MDT

El Paso, TX

4:55 pm MDT

Ysleta Bridge POE

5:10 pm MDT

Ciudad Juarez

6:10 pm MDT

60 min Santa Teresa, NM

POE 4:40 pm MDT

Ciudad Juarez

5:05 pm MDT

El Paso, TX I-25 South Queue

B

Breach Santa Teresa, NM

POE

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

• II. Motivation for A Multi-agent Architecture

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Stakeholder Survey

Automated Documentation (80) System Integration (80) Shipment Tracking (60) Information Security (60) Process Improvements (40)

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

System Attributes

Distributed System Decentralized Decision Making Specialized Knowledge & Expertise Proprietary Data & Knowledge Collaborative Enterprise USG & Commercial Security

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Allocation of Agents

Problem is naturally partitioned according to commercial entity and government regulator Agents are allocated to generic tasks:

• Elicitation
• Mediation
• Delegation
• Negotiation
• Monitoring

Agents are allocated to capture business processes

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

• III. Standard Agent Framework

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Electronic Commerce Agency Agency

agents: collection trading-partners: collection transactions: collection human-actors: collection persons: collection name: string

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Agent

agenda deferred achieved trash environment

SR-Agent

sr-table

Daemon-Agent

add-sr-pair ( ) rem-sr-pair ( ) analyze-stimulus ( ) process period schedule-agent ( ) unschedule-agent ( ) alive? ( )

Standard-Goal

internalize ( ) id satisfy ( )

Application-Goal

satisfy ( ) state

Standard-Agent

activate ( )

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

HTML-Object Person

name capabilities

Human-Actor

interface agent person next-dialog ( )

OLP::Iterator

next ( )

OLP::Collection

elements

Transactions

retract ( ) extend ( ) ID render ( )

• wn-data

components collection query

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Agent X Agent Y Anonymous Proxy

AGENT ASSOCIATION VIA “CROSS-BAR” PROXIES

Anonymous Proxy 132.175.127.163 132.171.122.123

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Access Control Agent

Public

Proxies AGENCY PHONEBOOK SERVER P Dispatching Agent AUTHENTICATION SERVER B TRANSACTION SERVER B

Phonebook

Search Agent P

Agent

“B

”

DURABLE PROXY NETWORKS

“A

”

“C

” TRANSACTION SERVER A

Public

Proxy

“B

”

Agency

A

Agency

C

Site B Query

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

TRANSACTION SERVER A

Public Proxy

“B

”

1: ACTIVATE () :delegate “shipper-agent” :stimulus “shipper-101” :requestor “agent-x”

Standard Agent X

1.1: ACTIVATE () :delegate “shipper-agent” :stimulus “shipper-101” :requestor “agent-x”

TRANSACTION SERVER A An instance of standard agent on “A” invokes the ACTIVATE method on the public proxy for Ageny “B”. The RMI semantics are: at-most-once; asynchronous) 2 The public proxy delegates the message to the Access Control Proxy for Agency “B”. 1 Access Control Proxy AUTHENTICATION SERVER B ( from standard agent proxy )

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Access Control Proxy

1.1.1: ACTIVATE () :delegate “shipper-agent” :stimulus “shipper-101” :requestor “agent-x”

Dispatching Agent

TRANSACTION SERVER B

new

Shipper Agent Z

1.1.1.1: MAKE (shipper-agent) 1.1.1.2 ACTIVATE () :stimulus “shipper-101” :requestor “agent-x”

AUTHENTICATION SERVER B TRANSACTION SERVER B 3 4 The Dispatching Agent processes the request: Sends MAKE message to class and then ACTIVATE to instance. 5 The Shipper Agent is created and activated with a stimulus of “shipper-101”. TRANSACTION SERVER B Private Proxy Standard Agent X

2.1: ACTIVATE () :stimulus “shipper-101-v1” :respondent “agent-z”

6 The response is an ACTIVATE message sent to a private proxy

• f the invoking agent. The proxy

delegates directly to the invoking agent object.

2.1.1: ACTIVATE () :stimulus “shipper-101-v1” :respondent “agent-z”

The Access Control Proxy validates the

• message. If valid, it delegates the

message to the Dispatching Agent. ( to standard agent )

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

• IV. Agent Tasks & Collaboration

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

ROUTE PLAN CONTAINER SHIPPER EXPORT PLAN IMPORT PLAN RECEIVAL

MAQUILA ENTERPRISE TRANSACTION

ORIGIN POINT DESTINATION POINT EXIT ROUTE PORT OF ENTRY PT PORT OF EXIT PT ENTRY ROUTE SIGNATURE LIST

ROUTE PLAN SHIPPER

ORIGINATOR CONSIGNEE CARRIER ORIGIN DESTINATION ARRIVE TIME/DATE DEPART TIME/DATE CARGO MANIFEST SIGNATURE LIST

RECEIVAL

CARGO CONDITION SIGNATURE LIST PORT OF ENTRY DECLARATION BROKER COUNTRY OF DEST IMPORT HISTORY SIGNATURE LIST

IMPORT PLAN

INSPECTION HISTORY

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

CONTAINER

IDENTIFIER SURETY HISTORY ATMS CONFIG

CONTAINER DESCRIPT

OWNER CURRENT ROUTE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN EXPORT HISTORY

INSPECTION HISTORY

PORT OF EXIT DECLARATION BROKER SIGNATURE LIST

EXPORT PLAN

SIGNATURE LIST

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Agent Human Actor Case Iterator Legacy Data Iterator

send ( HTML-object )

Web

transform

Elicitation

Objectives:

• 1. Reduce data entry errors
• 2. Allow case-based presentation
• 3. Increase referential integrity

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Agent Human Actor HTML Object

1

HTML Object

2

send ( HTML-object )

Web

transform

Mediation

Objectives:

• 1. Eliminate duplicate data entry
• 2. Ontological leveling
• 3. Enforce referential integrity

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Agent (delegate) Agent (delegator)

send (standard-goal )

Delegation

Objectives:

• 1. Delegate goal to other agent
• 2. Monitor goal satisfaction
• 3. Contingency action on failure

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Agent Agent

HTML-Object: version-XX

Negotiatio n

Objectives:

• 1. Settle on document fields
• 2. Provide authentication
• 3. Provide non-repudiation

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Agent

Transaction

transaction component

Monitoring

Objectives:

• 1. Notify agents/people of status
• 2. Monitor transaction progress
• 3. Monitor physical state
• 4. Coordinate contingency actions

Agent Person

status message e-mail status message

• bject

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

• V. Conclusions & Lessons Learned

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Lessons Learned

Industrial-grade multi-agent systems require

• 1. Sophisticated object-oriented substrate
• 2. High quality software engineering process
• 3. Knowledge engineering methodology
• 4. Extensive and expensive requirements analysis
• 5. Agent development framework

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping

Conclusions

• 1. Agent-oriented system development is superior to client-

server

• 2. Major barriers to agent-based E-commerce system

deployment are cultural

• 3. Legacy data is a pernicious problem
• 4. Agent theory and technology are mature enough for

successful application to large-scale E-commerce systems

Advanced Information Systems Laboratory

Intelligent Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Program

Workshop on Agent Mediated Electronic Trading, Autonomous Agents 98, May 9, 1998

A Multi-Agent System for Coordinating International Shipping