CLOVER: an agent-based approach to systems interoperability in cooperative design systems

This paper presents an agent-based cooperative intelligent design environment with a focus on the issue of systems interoperability. After discussing the advantages and insufficiencies of the existing standards and protocols for systems interoperability, this paper proposes an infrastructure of a multiagent-based cooperative design environment: CLOVER, which indicates that agent technology can be used to improve the interoperability among applications, and more importantly, it can support higher level dynamic and autonomous cooperation among applications. The key of our approach to systems interoperability is an agent-based infrastructure using standards including ISO standards and widely accepted standard propositions.