Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Product-Line Approach to Promote Asset Reuse in Multi-agent Systems

  • Conference paper
Book cover Software Engineering for Multi-Agent Systems IV (SELMAS 2005)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 3914))

Abstract

Software reuse technologies have been a driving force in significantly reducing both the time and cost of software specification, development, maintenance and evolution. However, the dynamic nature of highly autonomous agents in distributed systems is difficult to specify with existing requirements analysis and specification techniques. This paper offers an approach for open, agent-based distributed software systems to capture requirements specifications in such a way that they can be easily reused during the initial requirements phase as well as later if the software needs to be updated. The contribution of this paper is to provide a reusable requirements specification pattern to capture the dynamically changing design configurations of agents and reuse them for future similar systems. This is achieved by adopting a product-line approach for agent-based software engineering. We motivate and illustrate this work through a specific application, a phased deployment of an agent-based, distributed microsatellite constellation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Ardis, M.A., Weiss, D.M.: Defining Families: The Commonality Analysis. In: Proc. 19th Int’l Conf. on Software Engineering, pp. 649–650 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bresciani, P., Giorgini, P., Guinchiglia, F., Perini, A.: TROPOS: An Agent-Oriented Software Development Methodology. Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 8(1), 203–236 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Castro, J., Kolp, M., Myopoulos, J.: Towards Requirements-Driven Information Systems Engineering: The Tropos Project. Information Systems 27(6), 365–389 (2002)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Cernuzzi, L., Juan, T., Sterling, L., Zambonelli, F.: The Gaia Methodology: Basic Concepts and Extensions. In: Methodologies and Software Engineering for Agent Systems.The Agent-Oriented Software Engineering Handbook Series: Multiagent Systems, Artificial Societies, and Simulated Organizations, vol. 11, pp. 69–88 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Chan, K., Sterling, L.: Specifying Roles within Agent-Oriented Software Engineering. In: Proc. 10th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conf., pp. 390–395 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Chien, S., Sherwood, R., Tran, D., Cichy, B., Rabideau, G., Castano, R., Davies, A., Mandl, D., Frye, S., Trout, B., D’Agostino, J., Shulman, S., Boyer, D., Hayden, S., Sweet, A., Christina, S.: Lessons Learned from Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment. In: Proc. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Conf. (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Chien, S., Sherwood, R., Rabideau, G., Castano, R., Davies, A., Burl, M., Knight, R., Stough, T., Roden, J., Zetocha, P., Wainwright, R., Klupar, P., Van Gaasbeck, J., Cappelaere, P., Oswald, D.: The Techsat-21 Autonomous Space Science Agent. In: Proc. 1st Int’l Conf. on Autonomous Agents, pp. 570–577 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Clements, P., Northrop, L.: Software Product Lines: Practices and Patterns. Addison-Wesley, Reading (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Das, S., Krikorian, R., Truszkowski, W.: Distributed Planning and Scheduling for Enhancing Spacecraft Autonomy. In: Proc. 3rd Conf. on Autonomous Agents, pp. 422–423 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Dehlinger, J., Lutz, R.R.: PLFaultCAT: A Product-Line Software Fault Tree Analysis Tool. The Automated Software Engineering Journal (to appear)

    Google Scholar 

  11. DeLoach, S.A.: The MaSE Methodology. Methodologies and Software Engineering for Agent Systems-The Agent-Oriented Software Engineering Handbook Series: Multiagent Systems, Artificial Societies, and Simulated Organizations 11, 107–125 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Feng, Q., Lutz, R.R.: Bi-Directional Safety Analysis of Product Lines. Journal of Systems and Software (to appear)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Girardi, R.: Reuse in Agent-based Application Development. In: Proc. 1st Int’l Workshop on Software Engineering for Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Hara, H., Fujita, S., Sugawara, K.: Reusable Software Components Based on an Agent Model. In: Proc. Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Systems (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Kang, K.C., Kim, S., Lee, J., Lee, K.: Feature-Oriented Engineering of PBX Software for Adaptability and Reusability. Software Practice and Experience 29(10), 167–177 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Lutz, R.R.: Extending the Product Family Approach to Support Safe Reuse. Journal of Systems and Software 53(3), 207–217 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Northrop, L.: A Framework for Product Line Practice. Software Engineering Institute (November 2005), http://www.sei.cmu.edu/productlines/framework.html

  18. Padmanabhan, P., Lutz, R.R.: Tool-Supported Verification of Product Line Requirements. The Automated Software Engineering Journal 12(4), 447–465 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Schetter, T., Campbell, M., Surka, D.: Multiple Agent-Based Autonomy for Satellite Constellations. In: Proc. 2nd Int’l Symposium on Agent Systems and Applications (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Sommerville, I.: Software Engineering. Addison-Wesley, Reading (2004)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  21. Sutandiyo, W., Chhetri, M.B., Krishnaswamy, S., Loke, S.W.: Experiences with Software Engineering of Mobile Agent Applications. In: Proc. 2004 Australian Software Engineering Conf., pp. 339–349 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  22. TechSat21 - Space Missions Using Satellite Clusters, Space Vehicles Factsheets, http://www.cs.afrl.af.mil/Factsheets/techsat21.html (current February 2005)

  23. Tveit, A.: A Survey of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering. In: NTNU Computer Science Graduate Student Conf. (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  24. United States Department of Defense, Draft DoD Software Technology Strategy, Office of the Director, Defense Research & Engineering, DRAFT (December 1991)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Weiss, D.M., Lai, C.T.R.: Software Product-Line Engineering. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Wooldridge, M., Jennings, N.R.: Agent Theories, Architectures and Languages: A Survey. In: Workshop on Agent Theories, Architecture and Languages, pp. 1–32 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Wooldridge, M., Jennings, N.R., Kinny, D.: The Gaia Methodology for Agent-Oriented Analysis and Design. Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 3(3), 285–312 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Zambonelli, F., Jennings, N.R., Wooldridge, M.: Developing Multiagent Systems: The Gaia Methodology. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology 12(3), 317–370 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Iowa State University, 226 Atanasoff Hall, Ames, Iowa, 50011, USA

    Josh Dehlinger & Robyn R. Lutz

  2. Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech, USA

    Robyn R. Lutz

Authors
  1. Josh Dehlinger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Robyn R. Lutz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Alessandro Garcia

  2. SE-8, IME, Pca General Tiburcio 80, 22290-270, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Ricardo Choren

  3. Computer Science Department, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Carlos Lucena

  4. University of Trento - DISI, 38100, Povo, Trento, Italy

    Paolo Giorgini

  5. DistriNet Labs, K.U. Leuven, Belgium

    Tom Holvoet

  6. Computer Science School, Newcastle University, UK

    Alexander Romanovsky

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Dehlinger, J., Lutz, R.R. (2006). A Product-Line Approach to Promote Asset Reuse in Multi-agent Systems. In: Garcia, A., Choren, R., Lucena, C., Giorgini, P., Holvoet, T., Romanovsky, A. (eds) Software Engineering for Multi-Agent Systems IV. SELMAS 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3914. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11738817_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11738817_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-33580-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-33583-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation