Developing intelligent agent applications with JADE and JESS

Agent systems differ from more traditional software systems because agents are intended to be independent autonomous, reactive, pro-active and sociable software entities. Due to these unique characteristics developing agent systems has been a very challenging task for agent researchers and application developers. JADE (Java Agent DEvelopment Framework) is an agent development tool, implemented in JAVA and FIPA-compliant. Although JADE provides all the mandatory components (FIPA) for the development of autonomous agents, it lacks the ability to include intelligent behaviour to individual agents. JESS (Java Expert System Shell), a rule-based programming environment written in Java, provides a powerful tool for developing systems with intelligent reasoning abilities. This paper examines the use of both JADE and JESS for the development intelligent agent systems and shares the experience of the authors in the development of a Personal Travel Assistant (PTA).