Skip to main content

Formal Specification of Evolutionary Software Agents

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Formal Methods and Software Engineering (ICFEM 2002)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2495))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

How to specify agent’s intelligent behaviour is a challenging open problem in the development of agent-based systems. This paper presents a case study of developing the formal specification of the evolutionary multi-agent ecosystem Amalthaea developed at MIT Media Lab. A diagrammatic notation is used for the development of agent models and to derive a formal specification of the system in SLABS, which is a formal specification language for agent-based systems.

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

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
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. Jennings, N.R., Wooldridge, M.J. (eds.): Agent Technology: Foundations, Applications, And Markets. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York (1998)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Huhns, M., Singh, M.P. (eds.): Readings in Agents. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Jennings, N.R.: On agent-based software engineering. Artificial Intelligence 117, (2000) 277–296.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Lange, D.B.: Mobile Objects and mobile agents: The future of distributed computing? In: Proc. of The European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Brazier, F.M.T., Dunin-Keplicz, B.M., Jennings, N.R., Treur, J.: DESIRE: Modelling Multi-Agent Systems in a Compositional Formal Framework. Int. J. of Cooperative Information Systems 1(6) (1997) 67–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Rao, A.S., Georgreff, M.P.: Modeling Rational Agents within a BDI-Architecture. In: Proc. of the International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (1991) 473–484.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Singh, M.P.: Semantic Considerations on Some Primitives for Agent Specification. In: Wooldridge, M., Muller, J., Tambe, M. (eds): Intelligent Agents. LNAI, Vol. 1037. Springer (1996) 49–64

    Google Scholar 

  8. Wooldridge, M.: Reasoning About Rational Agents. The MIT Press (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Ambroszkiewicz, S., Komar, J.: A Model of BDI-Agent in Game-Theoretic Framework. In: Formal Models of Agents-ESPRIT Project ModelAge Final Workshop Selected Papers. LNAI, Vol. 1760. Springer (1999) 8–19

    Google Scholar 

  10. Myer, J-J., Schobbens, P-Y. (eds.): Formal Models of Agents-ESPRIT Project ModelAge Final Workshop Selected Papers. LNAI, Vol. 1760. Springer (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Wooldridge, M.J. and Jennings, N.R.: Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages: A Survey. In: Intelligent Agents. LNAI, Vol. 890. Springer-Verlag (1995) 1–32

    Google Scholar 

  12. Kinny, D., Georgeff, M., Rao, A.: A Methodology and Modelling Technology for Systems of BDI Agents. In: Agents Breaking Away: Proc. of MAAMAW’96. LNAI, Vol. 1038. Spriger-Verlag (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Moulin, B., Brassard, M.: A Scenario-Based Design Method and An Environment for the Development of Multiagent Systems. In: Lukose, D. and Zhang C. (eds.): First Australian Workshop on Distributed Artificial Intelligence. LNAI, Vol. 1087. Springer-Verlag (1996) 216–231

    Google Scholar 

  14. Wooldridge, M., Jennings, N., Kinny, D.: A Methodology for Agent-Oriented Analysis and Design. In: Proc. of ACM Third International Conference on Autonomous Agents, Seattle, WA, USA (1999) 69–76

    Google Scholar 

  15. Iglesias, C.A., Garijo, M., Gonzalez, J.C.: A Survey of Agent-Oriented Methodologies. In: Muller, J. P., Singh, M. P., Rao, A., (eds.): Intelligent Agents V. LNAI, Vol. 1555. Springer, Berlin (1999) 317–330

    Google Scholar 

  16. Bauer, B., Muller, J.P., and Odell, J.: Agent UML: a Formalism for Specifying Multiagent Software Systems. In: Ciancarini, P. and Wooldridge, M. (Eds.): Agent-Oriented Software Engineering. LNCS, Vol. 1957. Springer (2001) 91–103

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Zhu, H.: Formal Specification of Agent Behaviour through Environment Scenarios. In: Proc. of FAABS 2000. LNCS, Vol. 1871. Springer (2001) 263–277

    Google Scholar 

  18. Zhu, H.: SLABS: A Formal Specification Language for Agent-Based Systems. Int. J. of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering 11(5) (2001) 529–558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Zhu, H.: The Role of Caste in Formal Specification of MAS. In: Proc. of PRIMA’2001. LNCS Vol. 2132. Springer (2001) 1–15

    Google Scholar 

  20. Zhu, H.: Developing formal specifications of MAS in SLABS, to appear in Proc. of AOIS” 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Moukas, A.: Amalthaea: Information Discovery and Filtering Using a Multi-Agent Evolving Ecosystem. Journal of Applied Artificial Intelligence 11(5) (1997) 437–457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Jennings, N.R.: Agent-Oriented Software Engineering. In: Garijo, F.J., Boman, M. (eds.): Multi-Agent System Engineering, LNAI 1647. Springer, (1999) 1–7

    Google Scholar 

  23. Spivey, J.M.: The Z Notation: A Reference Manual. 2nd edn. Prentice Hall (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  24. D’Inverno, M., Kinny, D., Luck M. and Wooldridge, M.: A formal specification of dMARS in Singh, M. P. Rao, A. and Wooldridge, M. (eds.): Intelligent Agents IV: Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages. LNAI Vol. 1365. Springer (1998) 155–176

    Google Scholar 

  25. Luck, M. and d’Inverno, M.: A formal framework for agency and autonomy in Proc. of First International Conference on Multi-agent Systems. AAAI Press/MIT Press (1995) 254–260

    Google Scholar 

  26. Jin, L., Zhu, H.: Automatic Generation of Formal Specification from Requirements Definition. In: Proc. of IEEE 1st Int. Conf. on Formal Engineering Methods, Hiroshima, Japan (1997)243–251

    Google Scholar 

  27. Zhu, H., Jin, L.: Scenario Analysis in an Automated Tool for Requirements Engineering. J. of Requirements Engineering 5(1) (2000) 2–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Zhu, H. (2002). Formal Specification of Evolutionary Software Agents. In: George, C., Miao, H. (eds) Formal Methods and Software Engineering. ICFEM 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2495. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36103-0_28

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36103-0_28

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-00029-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-36103-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics