Analysis and design of multiagent systems using MAS-CommonKADS

Abstract

This article proposes an agent-oriented methodology called MAS-CommonKADS and develops a case study. This methodology extends the knowledge engineering methodology CommonKADSmth techniques from objectoriented and protocol engineering methodologies. The methodology consists of the development of seven models: Agent Model, that describes the characteristics of each agent; Task Model, that describes the tasks that the agents carry out; Expertise Model, that describes the knowledge needed by the agents to achieve their goals; Organisation Model, that describes the structural relationships between agents (software agents and/or human agents); Coordination Model, that describes the dynamic relationships between software agents; Communication Model, that describes the dynamic relationships between human agents and their respective personal assistant software agents; and Design Model, that refines the previous models and determines the most suitable agent architecture for each agent, and the requirements of the agent network. 1 The MAS-CommonKADS methodology MAS-CommonKADS [13] extends CommonKADS [28], for multiagent systems (MAS) modelling, adding techniques from object oriented (OO) methodologies such as Object Modelling Technique (OMT) [26], Object Oriented Software Engineering (OOSE) [15] and Responsibility Driving Design (RDD) [31] and from protocol engineering for describing the agent protocols, such as Specification and Description Language (SDL) [14] and Message Sequence Charts (MSC96) [25]). The methodology defines the following models:

A Survey of Agent-Oriented Methodologies

“…This methodology [19] extends the models defined in CommonKADS, adding techniques from object-oriented methodologies (OOSE, OMT) and from protocol engineering for describing the agent protocols (SDL [20] and MSC96 [40]). The methodology starts with a conceptualisation phase that is an informal phase for collecting the user requirements and obtaining a first description of the system from the user point of view.…”

“…We will review the extensions CoMoMAS [16] and MAS-CommonKADS [19], though there have been other preliminary works [9,25,37,47].…”

Representing Agent Interaction Protocols in UML

“…Multi-Agent System Engineering was the focus of a session at ATAL'97 [5,10,13,17,19,23,25,26] and the entire MAAMAW'99 [9].…”

Panel Summary: Agent Development Tools

“…While there have been several methods proposed for analyzing, designing, and building multi-agent systems, most of these have come out of the academic community [1,2,5,6,8,9,13] and there has not been wide-spread industry support for any particular approach. Because agents provide a unique perspective on distributed, intelligent systems, our traditional ways of thinking about and designing software do not fit the multi-agent paradigm.…”