Abstract
Agent-based simulation has shown great success for the study of complex adaptive systems and could in many areas show advantages over traditional analytical methods. Due to their internal complexity, however, agent-based simulations are notoriously difficult to verify and validate.
This paper presents \( \texttt {MC} ^ \texttt {2} \texttt {MABS} \), a Monte Carlo Model Checker for Multiagent-Based Simulations. It incorporates the idea of statistical runtime verification, a combination of statistical model checking and runtime verification, and is tailored to the approximate verification of complex agent-based simulations. We provide a description of the underlying theory together with design decisions, an architectural overview, and implementation details. The performance of \( \texttt {MC} ^ \texttt {2} \texttt {MABS} \) in terms of both runtime consumption and memory allocation is evaluated against a set of example properties.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
McKelvey refers to this link as the model’s ontological adequacy [31].
References
MC\(^{2}\)MABS. https://github.com/bherd/mc2mabs. Accessed February 2015
Baier, C., Katoen, J.-P.: Principles of Model Checking. The MIT Press, Cambridge (2008)
Ballarini, P., Fisher, M., Wooldridge, M.: Uncertain agent verification through probabilistic model-checking. In: Barley, M., Mouratidis, H., Unruh, A., Spears, D., Scerri, P., Massacci, F. (eds.) Safety and Security in Multiagent Systems. LNCS, vol. 4324, pp. 162–174. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Bharathy, G.K., Silverman, B.: Validating agent based social systems models. In: Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 441–453. Winter Simulation Conference (2010)
Bosse, T., Mogles, N.: Comparing modelling approaches in aviation safety. In: Curran, R. (eds.) Proceedings of the 4th International Air Transport and Operations Symposium, Toulouse, France (2013)
Çakırlar, İ., Gürcan, Ö., Dikenelli, O., Bora, Ş.: RatKit: repeatable automated testing toolkit for agent-based modeling and simulation. In: Grimaldo, F., Norling, E. (eds.) MABS 2014. LNCS, vol. 9002, pp. 17–27. Springer, Heidelberg (2015)
Cao, Y.U., Fukunaga, A.S., Kahng, A.: Cooperative mobile robotics: antecedents and directions. Auton. Robots 4(1), 7–27 (1997)
Collier, N.: Repast: an extensible framework for agent simulation. Nat. Resour. Environ. Issues 8, 17–21 (2001)
Dastani, M., Hindriks, K.V., Meyer, J.-J.: Specification and Verification of Multi-Agent Systems. Springer Science & Business Media, Heidelberg (2010)
De Wolf, T., Holvoet, T., Samaey, G.: Development of self-organising emergent applications with simulation-based numerical analysis. In: Brueckner, S.A., Di Marzo Serugendo, G., Hales, D., Zambonelli, F. (eds.) ESOA 2005. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3910, pp. 138–152. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
Dekhtyar, M.I., Dikovsky, A.J., Valiev, M.K.: Temporal verification of probabilistic multi-agent systems. In: Avron, A., Dershowitz, N., Rabinovich, A. (eds.) Pillars of Computer Science. LNCS, vol. 4800, pp. 256–265. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)
Hérault, T., Lassaigne, R., Magniette, F., Peyronnet, S.: Approximate probabilistic model checking. In: Steffen, B., Levi, G. (eds.) VMCAI 2004. LNCS, vol. 2937, pp. 73–84. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)
Herd, B.: Statistical runtime verification of agent-based simulations. PhD thesis, King’s College London (2015)
Herd, B., Miles, S., McBurney, P., Luck, M.: An LTL-based property specification language for agent-based simulation traces. TR 14–02, King’s College London, October 2014
Herd, B., Miles, S., McBurney, P., Luck, M.: Approximate verification of swarm-based systems: a vision and preliminary results. In: Engineering Systems for Safety: Proceedings of 23rd Safety-Critical Systems Symposium. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2015)
Herd, B., Miles, S., McBurney, P., Luck, M.: Towards quantitative analysis of multiagent systems through statistical model checking. In: 3rd International Workshop on Engineering Multiagent Systems (2015)
Karnouskos, S., de Holanda, T.: Simulation of a smart grid city with software agents. In: 3rd European Symposium on Computer Modeling and Simulation, pp. 424–429, November 2009
Konur, S., Dixon, C., Fisher, M.: Formal verification of probabilistic swarm behaviours. In: Dorigo, M., Birattari, M., Di Caro, G.A., Doursat, R., Engelbrecht, A.P., Floreano, D., Gambardella, L.M., Groß, R., Şahin, E., Sayama, H., Stützle, T. (eds.) ANTS 2010. LNCS, vol. 6234, pp. 440–447. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Konur, S., Dixon, C., Fisher, M.: Analysing robot swarm behaviour via probabilistic model checking. Robot. Auton. Syst. 60(2), 199–213 (2012)
Kwiatkowska, M., Lomuscio, A., Qu, H.: Parallel model checking for temporal epistemic logic. In: Proceedings of 19th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pp. 543–548, IOS Press (2010)
Legay, A., Delahaye, B., Bensalem, S.: Statistical model checking: an overview. In: Barringer, H., Falcone, Y., Finkbeiner, B., Havelund, K., Lee, I., Pace, G., Roşu, G., Sokolsky, O., Tillmann, N. (eds.) RV 2010. LNCS, vol. 6418, pp. 122–135. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Leucker, M., Schallhart, C.: A brief account of runtime verification. J. Logic Algebraic Program. 78(5), 293–303 (2009)
Liu, W., Winfield, A., Sa, J.: Modelling swarm robotic systems: a case study in collective foraging. In: Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, pp. 25–32 (2007)
Liu, W., Winfield, A.F.T., Sa, J., Chen, J., Dou, L.: Strategies for energy optimisation in a swarm of foraging robots. In: Şahin, E., Spears, W.M., Winfield, A.F.T. (eds.) SAB 2006 Ws 2007. LNCS, vol. 4433, pp. 14–26. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)
Lomuscio, A., Penczek, W., Qu, H.: Partial order reductions for model checking temporal-epistemic logics over interleaved multi-agent systems. Fundamenta Informaticae 101(1–2), 71–90 (2010)
Lomuscio, A., Penczek, W., Woz̀na, B.: Bounded model checking for knowledge and real time. Artif. Intell. 171(16–17), 1011–1038 (2007)
Lorscheid, I., Heine, B.-O., Meyer, M.: Opening the ‘black box’ of simulations: increased transparency and effective communication through the systematic design of experiments. Comput. Math. Organ. Theor. 18(1), 22–62 (2012)
Macal, C.M., North, M.J.: Tutorial on agent-based modelling and simulation. J. Simul. 4(3), 151–162 (2010)
Marks, R.E.: Validating simulation models: a general framework and four applied examples. Comput. Econ. 30, 265–290 (2007)
McCune, R., Madey, G.: Agent-based simulation of cooperative hunting with UAVs. In: Proceedings of the Agent-Directed Simulation Symposium. Society for Computer SimulationInternational (2013)
McKelvey, B.: The blackwell companion to organizations, chapter model-centered organization science epistemology, pp. 752–780. Blackwell (2002)
Niazi, M., Hussain, A., Kolberg, M.: Verification and validation of agent based simulations using the VOMAS approach. In: Proceedings of 3rd Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems and Simulation (2009)
Pedersen, T., Dyrkolbotn, S.K.: Agents homogeneous: a procedurally anonymous semantics characterizing the homogeneous fragment of ATL. In: Boella, G., Elkind, E., Savarimuthu, B.T.R., Dignum, F., Purvis, M.K. (eds.) PRIMA 2013. LNCS, vol. 8291, pp. 245–259. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)
Phan, D., Varenne, F.: Agent-based models and simulations in economics and social sciences: from conceptual exploration to distinct ways of experimenting. J. Artif. Soc.Soc. Simul. 13(1), 5 (2010)
Sargent, R.G.: Verification and validation of simulation models. In: Proceedings of 40th Winter Simulation Conference (WSC 2008), pp. 157–169 (2008)
Sebastio, S., Vandin, A.: MultiVeStA: statistical model checking for discrete event simulators. In: Proceedings of 7th International Conference on Performance Evaluation Methodologies and Tools (2013)
Wan, W., Bentahar, J., Ben Hamza, A.: Model checking epistemic and probabilistic properties of multi-agent systems. In: Mehrotra, K.G., Mohan, C.K., Oh, J.C., Varshney, P.K., Ali, M. (eds.) IEA/AIE 2011, Part II. LNCS, vol. 6704, pp. 68–78. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Wilensky, U.: NetLogo. TR, Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (1999)
Wright, C.J., McMinn, P., Gallardo, J.: Towards the automatic identification of faulty multi-agent based simulation runs using MASTER. In: Giardini, F., Amblard, F. (eds.) MABS 2012. LNCS, vol. 7838, pp. 143–156. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Herd, B., Miles, S., McBurney, P., Luck, M. (2016). \( \texttt {MC} ^ \texttt {2} \texttt {MABS} \): A Monte Carlo Model Checker for Multiagent-Based Simulations. In: Gaudou, B., Sichman, J. (eds) Multi-Agent Based Simulation XVI. MABS 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9568. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31447-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31447-1_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31446-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31447-1
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)