Agent based service integration for distributed problem solving environments

Multi-disciplinary problem solving environments (M-PSEs) are developed to support sharing of services across multiple application domains. A PSE is, by definition, aimed to support problem solving in a given application domain. However, the infrastructure used to maintain and develop a PSE is not, and various common themes emerge when considering applications across domains. This is the predominant reason for developing M-PSEs, and creating a service layer that can be shared by multiple domain-specific PSEs. An agent-based infrastructure for M-PSEs is described, which enables the integration of legacy codes, specialised visualisation services, numerical libraries and repositories, and resource management systems, such as LSF and Codine. Each "service" in the M-PSE is dynamic component, that can vary its behaviour based on interactions with other components, or its operating environment