OPNET-Based Performance Analysis of a Multi-agent Architecture for Managing the Mobile Content Delivery Process

This paper addresses the problem of mobile content delivery failure in wireless data networks, and the resulting wastage of communication resources. In these networks, many content delivery transactions fail due to inadequate device or channel capability, possibly after a partial delivery of the content requested by the user. The paper evaluates the performance of a solution devised to enhance and optimise the delivery of mobile content, as a new approach for reducing the probability of wasting valuable communication resources. The proposed solution is a layered multi-agent architecture which is offered in two alternative configurations: a centralised-decision configuration, and a distributed-decision configuration. Furthermore, a baseline configuration (with no agents for managing the content delivery process) is used in the paper, for the purpose of comparative performance evaluation. The simulation results have shown that on average, under heavy traffic conditions and for two levels of device capability (low or high performance device), the distributed-decision configuration outperforms the other two configurations, in terms of lower agent communication overhead, admitting more transactions and reducing bandwidth utilisation. Overall, compared to the baseline system, the layered multi-agent system performs more efficiently in heavy traffic networks and for poor device capability. However, as would be expected, the multi-agent system performs worse than the baseline system under conditions of high device capability, due to the overhead introduced by the communication between agents. The results support the intuitive expectations of agent behaviour in telecommunication systems.