Cloud-Based Multi-Agent Cooperation for IoT Devices Using Workflow-Nets

Most Internet of Things (IoT)-based service requests require excessive computation which exceeds an IoT device’s capabilities. Cloud-based solutions were introduced to outsource most of the computation to the data center. The integration of multi-agent IoT systems with cloud computing technology makes it possible to provide faster, more efficient and real-time solutions. Multi-agent cooperation for distributed systems such as fog-based cloud computing has gained popularity in contemporary research areas such as service composition and IoT robotic systems. Enhanced cloud computing performance gains and fog site load distribution are direct achievements of such cooperation. In this article, we propose a workflow-net based framework for agent cooperation to enable collaboration among fog computing devices and form a cooperative IoT service delivery system. A cooperation operator is used to find the topology and structure of the resulting cooperative set of fog computing agents. The operator shifts the problem defined as a set of workflow-nets into algebraic representations to provide a mechanism for solving the optimization problem mathematically. IoT device resource and collaboration capabilities are properties which are considered in the selection process of the cooperating IoT agents from different fog computing sites. Experimental results in the form of simulation and implementation show that the cooperation process increases the number of achieved tasks and is performed in a timely manner.