IODA: an interaction-oriented approach for multi-agent based simulations

Abstract

Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) design methodologies and Integrated DevelopmentEnvironments exhibit many interesting properties that also support simulation design. Yet, in their current form, they are not appropriate enough to model Multi-Agent Based Simulations (MABS). Indeed, their design is focused on the functionalities to be achieved by the MAS and the allocation of these functionalities among software agents. In that context, the most important point of design is the organization of the agents and how they communicate with each other. On the opposite, MABS aim at studying emergent phenomena, the origin of which lies in the interactions between entities and their interaction with the environment. In that context, the interactions are not limited to exchanging messages but can also be fundamental physical interactions or any other actions involving simultaneously the environment and one or several agents. To deal with this issue, this paper presents the core notions of the Interaction-Oriented Design of Agent simulations (IODA) approach to simulation design. It includes a design methodology, a model, an architecture and also JEDI, a simple implementation of IODA concepts for reactive agents. First of all, our approach focuses on the design of an agent-independent specification of behaviors, called interactions. These interactions are not limited to the analysis phase of simulation: they are made concrete both in the model and at the implementation stage. In addition, no distinction is made between agents and objects: all entities of the simulation are agents. Owing to this principle, designing which interactions occur between agents, as well as how agents act, is achieved by means of an intuitive plugand-play process, where interaction abilities are distributed among the agents. Besides, the guidelines provided by IODA are not limited to the specification of the model as they help the designer from the very beginning towards a concrete implementation of the simulation.

Overview of Case Studies on Adapting MABS Models to GPU Programming

“…Examples of this trend are EASS (Environment As Active Support for Simulation) [2], IODA (Interaction Oriented Design of Agent simulations) [11], the environment-centered approach for MABS proposed in [19] and artifact approach [21].…”

Representation of Interactions in a Multi-Level Multi-Agent Model for Cartography Constraint Solving

“…PADAWAN is a multi-level multi-agent model for simulation, allowing agents to get relations in several environments. It relies upon an interaction-oriented approach (IODA) [12]. The expression of agents' behaviour in the IODA formalism is based on interactions, that describe through a condition/action rule a behaviour that occurs between two entities.…”

The Galaxian Project: A 3D Interaction-Based Animation Engine

“…It aims at demonstrating the capabilities of the design principles and algorithms we promote through the Interaction-Oriented approach, the IODA method [2,3], especially for video game applications. Actually, this simulation presents an application of the IODA method to a 3D space battle, involving several kinds of spacecrafts.…”

“…The resulting simulation model is summarized in the interaction matrix below (for more details about this approach, please refer to [3]): Table 1. This interaction matrix describes which interactions are assigned to source/target agent families.…”

“…The " / 0" column contains reflexive interactions (where the target is the source itself). The original IODA simulation engine, called JEDI, was developed in Java [3]. The main transformations to integrate it within Unity were the following:…”