Milestones

·         Group formation 28/10/2013

·         A baseline agent implementation has to be completed until 9/12/2013

·         A design specification document has to be submitted by 30/12/2013, to be presented in class on 6/1/2014

·         The deadline for the final submission is 25/4/2014 (both software and project report)

·         A final meeting with the presentation will be scheduled for early May 2014

       Group formation

3 to 4 members per group. At group formation the team will also select a unique agent name and password (used to configure the server for running simulations/competitions).

             A baseline Implementation

The baseline agent should implement a simple agent that wins exactly three contracts and achieves the committed number of targeted impressions. The submitted baseline agent will include the following:

1.      Specific agent and architecture configuration files.

2.      Agent components packages replacing the provided sample.

3.      The server-generated log of a simulation in which the agent participated.

             A design specification document

The design specification document should describe the planned implementation of each of the agent components. Specifically, the following should be detailed for each of the components:

1.     Algorithm and related mechanisms/data structures.

2.      Data to be collected, and planned usage.

3.      High level architecture: main classes, interfaces and relations. 

The design specification will be presented in class (see milestones above). It is expected that the above will evolve throughout the implementation. A refined updated design document is required as part of the final submission.  

             Final Submission

The complete project should contain the following:

1.      software - similar to the content of the baseline implementation, but with the final agent components packages.  The code itself must be well documented.

2.      design spec – updated to reflect the final implementation.

3.      project report - 

·         A brief introduction and an overview of the project and relevant background

·         A detailed explanation regarding the methods used (including reasoning, explaining and motivating your decisions). Also, a detailed explanation regarding of methods that were unsuccessful (if any), and a description of the process.

·         Performance/simulation results and analysis.

             The Grade Structure

The grade will be composed from all your activities during the workshop, and will include, but not limited to, the following:

·         The performance of the agent: should be at least reasonable! extra points for high performance!

·         Milestones - quality and timely submissions.

·         The ideas and the testing that were tried.

·         An overall impression of the project and the project report.