Stochastic analysis of mobile agent-based e-shopping

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the problem of mobile agent-based e-shopping. We analyse the probability of success (the probability that an agent can find the destination shop) and the population growth of mobile agents. We found that though a single mobile agent may act randomly, the behaviour of all mobile agents as a whole has some stochastic properties. Our mathematical analysis provides a way to estimate user satisfaction and network performance. Since there is a trade-off between these two factors, managers can achieve maximum benefits by tuning the relevant parameters in our analysis according to the users' requirements and the characteristics of the network.