3.4.2. MAS Architectures

The MAS architectures (sometimes also called MAS structure, or MAS organizational structure) in the selected literature includes agent types and agent management framework/ system architecture, followed by the agent communication and ontology design that are usually introduced together, sometimes with agent interaction/activity diagrams.

• Agent types

The agent types are defined based on the system requirements, captured knowledge, and decomposed tasks. For example, agent types represent the devices and units in a power system, e.g., building management agent and RES (Renewable Energy Resources) agent [8], distributed voting agent and monitoring/resurrection agent [20], bus agent and switch agent [23]. In some MAS, the agents control the corresponding equipment according to their objectives, the measured and collected data, etc.

Agent types represent market players that especially for the electricity market, e.g., user agents and energy market control agent [17], system operator agent and VPP (Virtual Power Player) agents [37]. Some agent types are also ontology related agents, e.g., translator agent and ontology Agent [53]. In [53], the translator agent communicates with the main controller function blocks, and the ontology agent extracts knowledge from the ontology-based on requests.

Sometimes, the agent goals are also introduced together with the agent types. For instance, in [8], the agents act to achieve three goals of system load supplying, energy cost minimization, and residents' comfort maintenance.

• Agent management framework/ system architecture

The structure of a MAS usually is illustrated in the agent management framework/ system architecture. For instance, the proposed agent management framework [8] including several components, e.g., the agent platform, agent container, and directory facilitator, etc. The system architecture also can visualize the multi-layered structure, e.g., [20], and the relations of agents and environment, e.g., [17], and relations of agents and physical systems, e.g., [23].
