Development of a peer-to-peer information sharing system using ontologies

Most existing agent-oriented methodologies ignore system extensibility, interoperability and reusability issues. Ontologies have been found to play a significant role in facilitating interoperability, reusability, MAS development activities (including MAS analysis and agent knowledge modeling) and MAS run-time operation (including agent communication and reasoning). However, most of the existing AOSE methodologies do not provide support for ontology-based MAS development. We present software engineering requirements for ontology-based development for MAS and examine an existing methodology, MOBMAS – a “Methodology for Ontology-Based MASs”, which makes use of ontologies as a modeling tool. In this examination, we highlight how MOBMAS can be extended to utilizing ontology roles in facilitating interoperability, reusability and verification. This will be based on using MOBMAS to develop peer-to-peer (P2P) community-based information sharing application which lead us to identify ontology related steps that can be added to enhance MOBMAS. MOBMAS is used by two experienced software developers who were not authors of the methodology, to guide the development of the P2P application.     

A collection of method fragments automated with model transformations in agent-oriented modeling

The Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) Methodology Technical Committee recommends the method engineering approach for Multi-agent System (MAS) development. This approach consists in defining method fragments for agent-oriented software engineering, and then developers combine these fragments to define customized development processes. In this line of research, the contribution of this paper is a collection of novel method fragments that are assisted with model transformations, in order to allow engineers to better develop MASs in an automated way. Some of these fragments also include explicit advices for incorporating artificial intelligence in the development. In the experiments, two processes have been composed with these method fragments for two different agent-oriented methodologies (i.e. Ingenias and Adelfe). This paper shows how these processes are respectively used to develop two known MASs (i.e. Delphi MAS and Timetable MAS). Furthermore, the presented approach is evaluated with 24 developers that were randomly divided into two groups. Each developer designed a MAS satisfying the same common requirements. One group applied the current approach, while the other group did not. The results show that this approach reduces the 63.3% of the designing time in average forMASs.     

一种基于BDI Agent的复杂系统设计建模方法

提出一种通过信念一愿望一意图(BDI)结构实现多Agent系统设计建模的方法．多Agent系统设计建模的目的是具体地模型化多Agent组织中承担不同组织职能的每一类Agent的结构，使其易于在现有的程序设计语言环境中实现，在该方法中，多Agent系统的设计建模需要建立三个模型：Agent模型、相互作用模型和相识者模型．Agent模型由信念、目标、计划三个基本子模型构成，这些子模型是根据分析阶段所获得的职能模型、协同工作过程模型以及领域本体来建立的，MAS系统中的每一Agent都是Agent模型中某一类Agent的一个实例．相互作用模型主要说明Agent之间的交互细节，如交互协议、交互语言、交互约束条件等．相识者模型说明每一类Agent的所有相识者及其属性，目前通过这一建模方法已在多智能体协同工作平台(MBOS)上开发出实际的应用系统“多智能体物资调配决策支持系统MAEDSS”。     

Robust design of multi-agent system interactions: A testing approach based on pattern matching

The definition of protocols between agents is not enough for guaranteeing the absence of undesirable communication in organizations and the presence of desirable ones in large multi-agent systems (MASs). This is a consequence of the complex system nature of MASs, which cause sophisticated behaviors to arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions among the independent agents composing them. With this motivation, this paper presents an approach for testing communication in MAS architectures. In this approach, designers are not only recommended to specify the desired communication protocols, but also the undesired patterns and organization structures in the agents’ communications, allowing designers to define robust communication structures. For this purpose, this work presents (1) a language to define such patterns; (2) a set of already defined desired and undesired patterns which usually appear in general MASs; (3) a tool that allows developers to automatically detect these patterns in logs of MAS executions; and (4) a guideline that takes developers through the testing of the communications in MASs. The current approach is experienced with a case study, and the results show that the application of the current approach and the suppression of detected undesired patterns improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the corresponding MAS.     

Modeling Multi-agent systems with ANote

An important issue in getting the agent technology into mainstream software development is the development of appropriate methodologies for developing agent-oriented systems. This paper presents an approach to model distributed systems based on a goal-oriented requirements acquisition. These models are acquired as instances of a conceptual meta-model. The latter can be represented as a graph where each node captures a concept such as, e.g., goal, action, agent, or scenario, and where the edges capture semantic links between such abstractions. This approach is supported by a modeling language, the ANote, which presents views that capture the most important modeling aspects according to the concept currently under consideration.     

Beast methodology: An agile testing methodology for multi-agent systems based on behaviour driven development

This paper presents a testing methodology to apply Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) techniques while developing Multi-Agent Systems (MASs), termed BEhavioural Agent Simple Testing (BEAST) Methodology. This methodology is supported by the open source framework (BEAST Tool) which automatically generates test cases skeletons from BDD scenarios specifications. The developed framework allows the testing of MASs based on JADE or JADEX platforms. In addition, this framework offers a set of configurable Mock Agents with the aim of being able to execute tests while the MAS is under development. The BEAST Methodology presents transparent traceability from user requirements to test cases. Thus, the stakeholders can be aware of the project status. The methodology and the associated tool have been validated in the development of a MAS for fault diagnosis in FTTH (Fiber To The Home) networks. The results have been measured in quantifiable way obtaining a reduction of the tests implementation time.     

Automatic construction of systems of distributed components from nested Petri nets models

Multi-level multi-agent systems (MASs) with dynamic structure are widely used in solving important applied problems in telecommunication, transportation, social, and other systems. Therefore, ensuring correct behavior of such systems is an actual and important task. One of the most error-prone stages of system development in the framework of model-oriented approach is the implementation stage, in the course of which a program code is constructed based on the model developed. This paper presents an algorithm for automated translation of MAS models represented as nested Petri nets into systems of distributed components. Nested Petri nets are the extension of Petri nets in the framework of the nets-within-nets approach, which assumes that tokens in a Petri net may themselves be Petri nets, possess autonomous behavior, and interact with other tokens of the net. This makes it possible to model MASs with dynamic structure in a natural way. The translation presented in this paper preserves distribution level and important behavioral properties (safety, liveness, and conditional liveness) of the original model and ensures fairness of the target system execution. The use of such translation makes it possible to automate construction of distributed MASs by models of nested Petri nets. As a test example, translation of nested Petri nets into systems of distributed components was implemented on the basis of the EJB component technology.     

Achieving Mobile Agent Systems interoperability through software layering

Interoperability is a key issue for a wider adoption of mobile agent systems (MASs) in heterogeneous and open distributed environments where agents, in order to fulfill their tasks, must interact with non-homogeneous agents and traverse different agent platforms to access remote resources. To date, while several approaches have been proposed to deal with different aspects of MAS interoperability, they all lack the necessary flexibility to provide an adequate degree of interoperability among the currently available MASs. In this paper, we propose an application-level approach grounded in the software layering concept, which enables execution, migration and communication interoperability between Java-based mobile agent systems, thus overcoming major setbacks affecting the other approaches currently proposed for supporting MAS interoperability. In particular, we define a Java-based framework, named JIMAF, which relies on an event-driven, proxy-based mobile agent model and supports interoperable mobile agents which can be easily coded and adapted to existing MASs without any modifications of the MAS infrastructures. Results from the performance evaluation of MAS interoperability was carried by using JIMAF atop Aglets, Ajanta, Grasshopper, and Voyager, demonstrating that the high-level JIMAF approach offers high efficacy while maintaining overhead at acceptable levels for target computing environments.     

Towards an agent-oriented approach to conceptualization

Agent-oriented modeling provides a new technique for the conceptualization of agent-based systems. This paper extends and formalizes this agent-oriented modeling approach to the conceptualization process. It defines agent models and proposes a high-level methodology for agent-oriented analysis and design. It also includes analogies with the object-oriented and other existing agent-oriented methodologies, wherever applicable. The paper is concluded with a case study and an insight to future challenges.     

A platform-independent metamodel for multiagent systems

Various agent-oriented methodologies and metamodels exist to design and develop multiagent systems (MAS) in an abstract manner. Frequently, these frameworks specialise on particular parts of the MAS and only few works have been invested to derive a common standardisation. This limits the impact of agent-related systems in commercial applications. In this paper, we present a metamodel for agent systems that abstracts from existing agent-oriented methodologies, programming languages, and platforms and could thus be considered as platform-independent. This metamodel defines the abstract syntax of a proposed domain-specific modelling language for MAS that is currently under development and provides furthermore the base to generate code out of the generated designs. This is done by applying the principles of model-driven development (MDD) and providing two model transformations that allow transforming the generated models into textual code that can be executed with JACK and JADE.     

Distributed problem solving in multiagent systems: a spring net approach

This paper presents a new spring net approach for distributed problem solving in MAS. Distributed artificial intelligence consists of distributed problem solving and multi-agent systems. We extend such specialized DPS and MASs to a general MAS, such that an agent may make a trade-off between selfishness and unselfishness, thus adjusting its own personality and autonomy. This alternative to traditional approaches can deal with a variety of complicated social interactions and autonomous behaviors occurring in multiagent systems.     

A systematic approach to evaluating domain-specific modeling language environments for multi-agent systems

Multi-agent systems (MASs) include multiple interacting agents within an environment to provide a solution for complex systems that cannot be easily solved with individual agents or monolithic systems. However, the development of MASs is not trivial due to the various agent properties such as autonomy, responsiveness, and proactiveness, and the need for realization of the many different agent interactions. To support the development of MASs various domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs) have been introduced that provide a declarative approach for modeling and supporting the generation of agent-based systems. To be effective, the proposed DSMLs need to meet the various stakeholder concerns and the related quality criteria for the corresponding MASs. Unfortunately, very often the evaluation of the DSML is completely missing or has been carried out in idiosyncratic approach. If the DSMLs are not well defined, then implicitly this will have an impact on the quality of the MASs. In this paper, we present an evaluation framework and systematic approach for assessing existing or newly defined DSMLs for MASs. The evaluation is specific for MAS DSMLs and targets both the language and the corresponding tools. To illustrate the evaluation approach, we first present SEA_ML, which is a model-driven MAS DSML for supporting the modeling and generation of agent-based systems. The evaluation of SEA_ML is based on a multi-case study research approach and provides both qualitative evaluation and quantitative analysis. We report on the lessons learned considering the adoption of the evaluation approach as well as the SEA_ML for supporting the generation of agent-based systems.     

Agent-oriented modeling and development of a system for crisis management

The management of crisis situations has been a challenging problem from different points of views, such as communication efficiency and avoiding casualties. This paper presents a novel approach that includes an interaction organization pattern for Multi-agent Systems (MASs) in crisis management, abstracted from several existing case studies in which the agents follow a sequence of interactions and the organization must optimize the use of human resources. The pattern considers an emergent organization of peers that adopt different roles according to the circumstances. The key features of the organization are its robustness, scalability (in terms of both agents and roles), flexibility to deal with a changing environment, and the efficient use of resources. In order to validate the organization, the paper presents its modeling and development with the Ingenias methodology, conforming the corresponding MAS. This development follows a model-driven approach, which allows a smooth transition from the specification to the code, and a low-cost testing of the system with different settings. Another key aspect is the application of metrics for validating and improving the MAS in terms of response time. The MAS has been tested with 600 agents representing 200 citizens, showing its performance.     

Agents in object‐oriented software engineering

Software engineers of multi‐agent systems (MASs) are faced with different concerns such as autonomy, adaptation, interaction, collaboration, learning, and mobility, which are essentially different from classical concerns addressed in object‐oriented software engineering. MAS developers, however, have relied mostly on object‐oriented design techniques and programming languages, such as Java. This often leads to a poor separation of MAS concerns and in turn to the production of MASs that are difficult to maintain and reuse. This paper discusses software engineering approaches for MASs, and presents a new method for integrating agents into object‐oriented software engineering from an early stage of design. The proposed approach encourages the separate handling of MAS concerns, and provides a disciplined scheme for their composition. Our proposal explores the benefits of aspect‐oriented software development for the incorporation of agents into object‐oriented systems. We also illustrate our aspect‐oriented approach through the Portalware multi‐agent system, a Web‐based environment for the development of e‐commerce portals. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Suitability assessment framework of agent-based software architectures

ContextA common distributed intelligent system architecture is Multi Agent Systems (MASs). Creating systems with this architecture has been recently supported by Agent Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) methodologies. But two questions remain: how do we determine the suitability of a MAS implementation for a particular problem? And can this be determined without AOSE expertise?ObjectiveGiven the relatively small number of software engineers that are AOSE experts, many problems that could be better solved with a MAS system are solved using more commonly known but not necessarily as suitable development approaches (e.g. object-oriented). The paper aims to empower software engineers, who are not necessarily AOSE experts, in deciding whether or not they should advocate the use of an MAS technology for a given project.MethodThe paper will construct a systematic framework to identify key criteria in a problem requirement definition to assess the suitability of a MAS solution. The criteria are first identified using an iterative process. The features are initially identified from MAS implementations, and then validated against related work. This is followed by a statistical analysis of 25 problems that characterise agent-oriented solutions previously developed to group features into key criteria.ResultsKey criteria were sufficiently prominent using factor analysis to construct a framework which provides a process that identifies within the requirements the criteria discovered. This framework is then evaluated for assessing suitability of a MAS architecture, by non-AOSE experts, on two real world problems: an electricity market simulation and a financial accounting system.ConclusionSubstituting a software engineer’s personal inclination to (or not to) use a MAS, our framework provides an objective mechanism. It can supplant current practices where the decision to use a MAS architecture for a given problem remains an informal process. It was successfully illustrated on two real world problems to assess the suitability of a MAS implementation. This paper will potentially facilitate the take up of MAS technology.     

基于OPM/MAS 的钢铁企业多agent 生产调度模型

现有的面向agent建模方法在统一性、灵活性、交互能力、逻辑验证能力等方面存在很多不足,阻碍了多agent系统的研究和设计.为此,引入对象过程/多智能体系统(OPM/MAS)的建模方法,将系统的功能、结构和动态行为集成在统一的模型中,用图形和自然语言共同表达复杂系统的抽象概念,可进行逻辑验证,并具有灵活性强、表意清晰等优势.通过在钢铁企业生产调度中的应用,验证了OPM/MAS在多agent等复杂系统建模中的有效性.     

Agent-oriented modeling of the dynamics of biological organisms

In this paper, the agent-oriented modeling perspective to cope with biological complexity is discussed. Three levels of dynamics can distinguished and related to each other: dynamics of externally observable agent behavior, dynamics of internal agent processes, and dynamics of multi-agent organisations. This paper addresses the first two. Basic agent concepts to describe externally observable agent behavior are introduced. In the context of two case studies on animal behavior and cell functioning, it is shown how these concepts can be used to specify dynamic properties. In addition, a number of basic agent concepts to describe an agent’s internal processes are introduced. Also, these concepts are illustrated for specification of dynamic properties in the two case studies. Furthermore, the relationships between dynamic properties of externally observable behavior and dynamic properties of internal agent processes are addressed and illustrated for the animal and cell case studies.     

面向涌现的多Agent系统研究及其进展

在多Agent系统研究领域,涌现现象越来越引起人们的注意.面向涌现的多Agent系统研究正成为多Agent系统研究中值得注意的一个新方向.它关注的是多Agent系统宏观层面的涌现性问题以及系统涌现的宏观与微观层面的联系机制,并最终希望发展出一套面向涌现的多Agent系统的设计和控制方法.该文在介绍涌现的概念和特征之后,考察了多Agent系统宏观特征的面向涌现描述方法;然后对多Agent系统涌现的微-宏观机制进行了总结,比较分析了面向涌现的多Agent系统设计方法和设计模式;最后分析讨论了该领域研究存在的问题和进一步的研究方向.     

Detection of undesirable communication patterns in multi-agent systems

Communication design is usually complex in Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) because of dynamic emergent behaviours. The lack of proper quantitative measures to assess alternative solutions and guide an iterative development makes this design even harder. The aim of this work is to efficiently find and describe communication patterns that should be avoided in these systems and identify the agents involved in these patterns. For this purpose, this research presents a suite of novel metrics and classification rules that, respectively, measure agents’ communication and classify their results to describe patterns. This work also provides tools for automatically measuring the metrics and applying the classification rules. In order to evaluate this work, the results of applying these metrics and classification rules have been compared with the quality attribute of performance in several MAS. Performance is measured as the time between a user’s request and the MAS response, and partially represents the factor of the quality of service. The experiments gather four agent-oriented communication designs that belong to two different domains: Crisis-management and Cinema ticket selling. The study reveals that the detected communication patterns are related with performance, and that the proposed metrics can arguably guide the design of communications improving the overall performance of systems.