| FIPA |
96/04/17 |
| FOUNDATION FOR
INTELLIGENT PHYSICAL AGENTS |
|
| Source: L. Chiariglione
|
fipa_scope.htm |
Scope
Promotion of the development and specification of agent
technologies is the task of the Foundation for Intelligent
Physical Agents (FIPA). FIPA is an international non-profit
association of companies and organisations which agree to share
efforts to produce in a timely fashion internationally agreed
specifications of generic agent technologies that are usable
across a large number of applications providing a high level of
interoperability across applications. The target of
FIPA-specified agent technologies are Intelligent Physical Agents
(IPA). IPAs are devices intended for the mass market, capable of
executing actions to accomplish goals imparted by or in
collaboration with human beings or other IPAs, with a high degree
of intelligence.
Many of the features at the basis of the MPEG and DAVIC efforts
that are believed to be at the basis of their success are
retained in the FIPA way of operation, namely:
- The purpose of FIPA shall be pursued by: identifying,
selecting, augmenting and developing in a timely fashion
specifications of generic agent technologies that are
usable across a large number of IPAs and provide a high
level of interoperability with other applications. The
goals are realised through the open international
collaboration of all players in the field.
- The following principles are followed in FIPA's
specification development
- Specifications must be produced before industries
make commitment;
- As a rule systems will not be specified but
generic technologies usable in different systems;
not systems but subsystems; not the internal
working but only the external behaviour;
- It is desirable that each functionality needed by
FIPA be supported by only one technology;
- Technologies needed to support functionalities
must be relocatable;
- Specifications should cover only the minimum that
is needed for interoperability.
- As a rule FIPA selects and adapts existing technologies
and only occasionally develops its own technologies.
Therefore FIPA must keep close contact with formal
standards bodies, industry consortia and government
agencies, such as ARPA, CEC, DAVIC,
IETF, ITU, MPEG,
OMG, TINA, W3C etc.
- It is FIPA's intent to specify tools that can then be
assembled to provide systems of practical interest. It is
the responsibility of the subsystem integrator to ensure
that the overall system is fit for purpose and complies
with all relevant regulatory requirements.
- The FIPA specification development activity is based on a
workplan, organised in work items. Each work item
identifies a date of completion and a list of subsystems
whose specification is believed to feasible by the agreed
date and whose enabling technology is believed to become
available for use by around the date of work item
completion.
- As a rule FIPA will issue Calls for Proposals to acquire
information on candidate technologies for the subsystems
it intends to specify in the context of a work item. Such
Calls are public and anybody, member and non-member, may
submit his/her technologies for consideration by FIPA.
- FIPA specifications are of two kinds: normative and
informative. A specification is normative when it
mandates the behaviour of a subsystem to ensure
interoperability with other FIPA-specified subsystems. A
specification is informative when its aim is to provide
guidance to industry on some particular aspects of a
subsystem.
- FIPA Members (companies, organisations, governmental
institutions etc.) pay yearly membership fees, have right
to vote on matters that require this instrument and are
allowed to join the technical committees developing
technical specifications.
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