A Modeling Methodology for Conflict Control in Multi-Agent Systems

Lian, Jiexin; Shatz, Sol M.

doi:10.1142/s0218194008003659

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In [30], a component-based modeling approach was developed based on Colored Petri nets by the invention of potential arcs that are introduced to resolve con°icts for resources among agents. The focus was on the construction of agent plans that were free of such con°icts.…”

Section: Modeling Coordinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Methodology for Modeling Multi-Agent Systems Using Nested Petri Nets

Chang

Shatz

2012

Int. J. Soft. Eng. Knowl. Eng.

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In the past two decades, multi-agent systems have emerged as a new paradigm for conceptualizing large and complex distributed software systems. Even though there are many conceptual frameworks for using multi-agent systems, there is no well established and widely accepted method for the representation of multi-agent systems. We adapt a well-known formal model, predicate transition nets, to include the notions of dynamic structure, agent communication and coordination to address the representation problems. This paper presents a comprehensive methodology for modeling multi-agents based on the extensions. We demonstrate our modeling approach with an example. Several case studies on di®erent application domains from our previous works are also discussed. Int. J. Soft. Eng. Knowl. Eng. 2012.22:891-925. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG on 02/06/15. For personal use only.software engineering community for structuring complex systems running in an open computing environment. Many research activities have been conducted to develop the languages, methodologies and tools for conceptualizing complex systems based on the MAS view. Previous works in this regard were centered on agent-oriented software engineering (AOSE) [25], which focused on the following research topics:(1) requirements engineering; (2) design, speci¯cation and veri¯cation techniques;(3) ontologies; (4) generic agent models and design patterns; (5) validation and testing techniques; and (6) tools to support MAS development. Although the emergence of AOSE is well recognized as a signi¯cant contribution for conceptualizing complex systems based on the MAS architecture, it is still in its infancy towards a mature engineering paradigm to be widely adopted by the software engineering community.In response to the e®orts in developing complex systems based on AOSE, our work aims at speci¯cation and analysis techniques for MAS. The objective is to provide a systematic approach for constructing MAS speci¯cations that can be automatically analyzed at an early stage of system development. Since formal methods provide a sound basis for revealing design°aws, our work is based on model-oriented formal methods [45]. We adopt predicate transition nets (PrT nets) [19] as the underlying formalism to address the representation of MAS. PrT nets are a powerful visual model for studying distributed and concurrent systems. More importantly, PrT nets have precise de¯nitions for operational semantics, which can be manipulated for machine analysis. Nevertheless, PrT nets have a°at net structure that provides only a singlelevel view of the system model, and they are insu±cient in modeling agent communications. To address the shortcomings of PrT nets in modeling MAS, we extended the dynamic semantics of PrT nets to include the notions of dynamic structure, agent communication and coordination. We developed a framework based on our PrT net extensions and developed techniques to facilitate the construction and analysis of MAS models. In summary,...

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Section: Modeling Coordinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Methodology for Modeling Multi-Agent Systems Using Nested Petri Nets

Chang

Shatz

2012

Int. J. Soft. Eng. Knowl. Eng.

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“…Our intent is not to force a MAS designer to represent all aspects of a MAS within a Petri net based formalism; we simply use net modeling as a formalism for focusing on agent coordination. Our previous work [LS08] gave some guidelines on integrating agent-based Petri net models with the widely accepted BDI agent model [KG96]. In a BDI agent model, an agent has goal, plan, knowledge base, and environment modules.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexible coordinator design for modeling resource sharing in multi-agent systems

Lian¹,

Shatz²,

He³

2009

Journal of Systems and Software

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-One approach to modeling multi-agent systems (MAS) is to employ a method that defines components which describe the local behavior of individual agents, as well as a special component, called a coordinator. The coordinator component coordinates the resource-sharing behavior among the agents. The agent models define a set of local plans, and the combination of local plans and a coordinator defines a system's global plan. Although earlier work has provided the base functionality needed to synthesize inter-agent resource sharing behavior for a global, conflict-free MAS environment, the lack of coordination flexibility limits the modeling capability at both the local plan level and the global plan level. In this paper, we describe a flexible design method that supports a range of coordinator components. The method defines four levels of coordination and an associated four-step coordinator generation process, which allows for the design of coordinators with increasing capabilities for handling complexity associated with resource coordination. Colored Petri Net-based simulation is used to analyze various properties that derive from different coordinators and synthesis of a reduced coordinator component is discussed for cases that involve homogeneous agents.

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“…The works in [29,30], which are discussed in the previous section, provided the modeling methodology based on high-level Petri nets within the MAS context. However, a recent work [67] used low-level net as the modeling tool for modeling and analysis of multi-agent systems.…”

Section: Modeling Methodology Within the Mas Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, conflicts may occur when limited resources are demanded by multiple agents. In [30,65], a component-based modeling approach was developed based on Colored Petri nets by the invention of potential arcs that are introduced to resolve conflicts for resources among agents. Potential arcs modeled the resources incoming from or outgoing to the external environment, and were added as additional constraints for enabling transitions.…”

Section: Modeling Coordinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given a multi-agent system with a set of agent roles, their behavior models can be constructed and analyzed following the methodology provided in this dissertation. Compared to other works based on Petri nets( [24,25,26,27,28,29,30] in Table 1  Define a set of translation rules that systematically transform nested PrT nets to PROMELA programs in SPIN for automatic model analysis.…”

Section: Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Nested Petri Net Framework for Modeling and Analyzing Multi-Agent Systems

Chang

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In the past two decades, multi-agent systems (MAS) have emerged as a new paradigm for conceptualizing large and complex distributed software systems. A multi-agent system view provides a natural abstraction for both the structure and the behavior of modern-day software systems. Although there were many conceptual frameworks for using multi-agent systems, there was no well established and widely accepted method for modeling multi-agent systems. This dissertation research addressed the representation and analysis of multi-agent systems based on model-oriented formal methods. The objective was to provide a systematic approach for studying MAS at an early stage of system development to ensure the quality of design.Given that there was no well-defined formal model directly supporting agent-oriented modeling, this study was centered on three main topics: (1) adapting a well-known formal model, predicate transition nets (PrT nets), to support MAS modeling; (2) formulating a modeling methodology to ease the construction of formal MAS models; and (3) developing a technique to support machine analysis of formal MAS models using model checking technology. PrT nets were extended to include the notions of dynamic structure, v agent communication and coordination to support agent-oriented modeling. An aspectoriented technique was developed to address the modularity of agent models and compositionality of incremental analysis. A set of translation rules were defined to systematically translate formal MAS models to concrete models that can be verified through the model checker SPIN (Simple Promela Interpreter).This dissertation presents the framework developed for modeling and analyzing MAS, including a well-defined process model based on nested PrT nets, and a comprehensive methodology to guide the construction and analysis of formal MAS models.

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A Modeling Methodology for Conflict Control in Multi-Agent Systems

Cited by 5 publications

References 23 publications

A Methodology for Modeling Multi-Agent Systems Using Nested Petri Nets

A Methodology for Modeling Multi-Agent Systems Using Nested Petri Nets

Flexible coordinator design for modeling resource sharing in multi-agent systems

A Nested Petri Net Framework for Modeling and Analyzing Multi-Agent Systems

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