Distributed and intelligent information access in manufacturing enterprises through mobile devices

Due to the distributed nature of today's enterprises and the growing number of employees who are mobile, newer models of communication are required to cater to the information needs of manufacturing personnel. Mobile applications such as information alerts, disconnected information processing and background processing are applications gaining significant attention in manufacturing companies. In this paper, we describe the framework and architecture of a mobile-agent-based system, which provides mobile information services to the workforce in motion in manufacturing enterprises. We emphasize on background and disconnected processing and demonstrate the use of a Mobile-agent-based system to achieve it. Recognizing the need to exchange information between various distributed information sources, we explore the use of XML-based agent communication and discuss how XML can be used for inter-agent communication. We describe the design and implementation of a prototype system and discuss application scenarios.