CSCE 475/896

Homework Assignment 3

Assigned: November 20, 2003

Due: 11:00 a.m. December 2, 2003

(Homework 5 minutes late will not be accepted)

This homework is based on the article Shenk, D. (2003). Watching You: The World of High-Tech Surveillance, National Geographic, 204(5):2-29.

Is It an Agent? Or a MAS? Is It Possible?

1. (100 points) For each of the following items:

a. (30 points) Identify whether an item is an agent or a multiagent system. Provide your reasons. (Note that an item can be both an agent and a multiagent system.)

b. (70 points) For the items that you do not think are agents or multiagent systems,

(i) provide the necessary modules or components that have to be added to make them agents or multiagent systems,

(ii) if it is not possible to make them agents or multiagent systems, provide your reasons, and

(iii) if it is possible, provide your reasons why making them agents or multiagent systems is useful.

(Note that you are not required to make them intelligent agents; just only agents.)

Note also that you should be able to complete this assignment based on only the information obtained from the above article. If you use information from other articles or papers, you must also provide the correct and complete references.

Items

1. Poseidon (p. 9)

2. Electronic Watchdogs at Arizona-Mexico border (p. 10)

3. Passive Millimeter Wave Imaging (PMMW) (p. 12)

4. Low-cost pocket-pager-like radiation detectors (p. 13)

5. A citizen smart card (p 16)

6. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) (p. 16)

7. Coplink (p. 16)

8. Closed-Circuit Television Cameras (CCTVs) in Great Britain (p. 16)

9. Echelon (p. 20)

10. Sensormatic Intellex DV 16000 (p. 28)

Requirements

No page limit. No format/style requirement. But the homework must be typed. Turn in the homework at the beginning of the class.