Assumptions in design of agents

For an agent to roam the landscape fighting fires in the model described above, the agent needs minimally to

• be able to traverse the landscape from cell to cell
• be able to modify the state of a cell (increase fuel moisture or remove burnable material)
• survive (avoid being burned or breathing smoke)

With these minimal abilities, the agents could roam the landscape like ants, spraying water or fire retardant on vegetation and cutting underbrush wherever they happen to be. There obviously needs to be other abilities to a fire fighter, like some degree of intelligence to know its destination, strategy, and contribution to group goals; these will be addressed after these minimal requirements have been discussed.