Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Monitoring Group Behavior in Goal-Directed Agents Using Co-efficient Plan Observation

  • Conference paper
Agent-Oriented Software Engineering VII (AOSE 2006)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 4405))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Purposeful, time– and cost–oriented engineering of Multi–Agent Systems (MAS) requires developers to understand the relationships between the numerous behaviors exhibited by individual agents and the resulting global MAS behavior. While development methodologies have drawn attention to verification and debugging of single agents, software producing organizations need to validate that the MAS, as a cooperative system exhibiting group behavior, is behaving as expected. Recent research has proposed techniques to infer mathematical descriptions of macroscopic MAS behavior from microscopic reactive and adaptive agent behaviors. In this paper, we show how similar descriptions can be adjusted to MAS composed of goal–directed agent architectures. We argue that goal–hierarchies found in Requirements Engineering and Belief Desire Intention (BDI) architectures are suitable data structures to facilitate a stochastic modeling approach. To enable monitoring of agent behaviors, we introduce an enhancement to the well-known capability concept for BDI agents. So-called co–efficient capabilities are a novel approach to modularize crosscutting concerns in BDI agent implementations. A case study applies co–efficient plan observation to exemplify and confirm our modeling approach.

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. Jennings, N.R.: Building complex, distributed systems: the case for an agent-based approach. Comms. of the ACM 44(4), 35–41 (2001)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Wolf, T.D., Holvoet, T.: Emergence and self-organisation: a statement of similarities and differences. In: Proc. of ESOA’04, pp. 96–110 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Guerin, S.: Peeking into the black-box: Some art and science to visualizing agent-based models. In: Proceedings of the 2004 Winter Simulation Conference (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ndumu, D.T., et al.: Visualising and debugging distributed multi-agent systems. In: Proc. of AGENTS ’99, pp. 326–333 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Szekely, P., Rogers, C.M., Frank, M.: Interfaces for understanding multi-agent behavior. In: Proc. of the 6th int. conf. on Intel. user interfaces, pp. 161–166 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Lam, D.N., Barber, K.S.: Comprehending agent software. In: Proc. of the 4th int. joint conf. on autonomous agents and multiagent systems (AAMAS ’05) (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Yamins, D.: Towards a theory of ”local to global” in distributed multi-agent systems (i). In: Proc. of AAMAS ’05, pp. 183–190. ACM Press, New York (2005)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Bratman, M.: Intentions, Plans, and Practical Reason. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge (1987)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Rao, A.S., Georgeff, M.P.: BDI-agents: from theory to practice. In: Proceedings of the First Int. Conference on Multiagent Systems (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Georgeff, M.P., Lansky, A.L.: Reactive reasoning and planning: an experiment with a mobile robot. In: Proc. of AAAI 87, Seattle, Washington, pp. 677–682 (1987)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Pokahr, A., Braubach, L., Lamersdorf, W.: A flexible BDI architecture supporting extensibility. In: The 2005 IEEE/WIC/ACM Int. Conf. on IAT-2005 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Bresciani, P., et al.: Tropos: An agent-oriented software development methodology. Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Padgham, L., Winikoff, M.: Developing Intelligent Agent Systems: A Practical Guide. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Lerman, K., Galstyan, A.: A general methodology for mathematical analysis of multiagent systems. USC Inf. Sciences Tech.l Report ISI-TR-529 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Lerman, K., Galstyan, A.: Automatically modeling group behavior of simple agents. In: Agent Modeling Workshop, AAMAS-04, New York, NY (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Lerman, K., et al.: Analysis of dynamic task allocation in multi-robot systems. Int. J. of Robotics Research 25, 225–241 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Parnas, D.L.: On the criteria to be used in decomposing systems into modules. Commun. ACM 15, 1053–1058 (1972)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Elrad, T., Filman, R.E., Bader, A.: Aspect-oriented programming: Introduction. Commun. ACM 44, 29–32 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lamersdorf, W., Braubach, L., Pokahr, A.: Extending the Capability Concept for Flexible BDI Agent Modularization. In: Bordini, R.H., et al. (eds.) PROMAS 2005. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3862, pp. 139–155. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Busetta, P., et al.: Structuring BDI agents in functional clusters. In: Jennings, N.R. (ed.) ATAL 1999. LNCS, vol. 1757, pp. 277–289. Springer, Heidelberg (2000)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  21. Lerman, K., Martinoli, A., Galstyan, A.: A Review of Probabilistic Macroscopic Models for Swarm Robotic Systems. In: Şahin, E., Spears, W.M. (eds.) Swarm Robotics 2004. LNCS, vol. 3342, pp. 143–152. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Van Kampen, N.G.: Stochastic Processes in Physics and Chemistry. Elsevier, Amsterdam (2001)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  23. van Lamsweerde, A.: Goal-oriented requirements engineering: A guided tour. In: Proc. RE’01 - Int. Joint Conference on Requirements Engineering (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Van Lamsweerde, A.: Goal-oriented requirements engineering: A roundtrip from research to practice. In: Proc. of RE’04 (Invited Keynote Paper), pp. 4–8 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Lamersdorf, W., et al.: Goal Representation for BDI Agent Systems. In: Bordini, R.H., et al. (eds.) PROMAS 2004. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3346, pp. 44–65. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Lamersdorf, W., et al.: Augmenting BDI Agents with Deliberative Planning Techniques. In: Bordini, R.H., et al. (eds.) PROMAS 2006. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 4411, pp. 113–127. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Pokahr, A., Braubach, L., Lamersdorf, W.: A bdi architecture for goal deliberation. In: Proc. of AAMAS ’05, pp. 1295–1296 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Simari, G., Parsons, S.: On the relationship between mdps and the bdi architecture. In: Proc. of the Fifth International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Padgham, L., Winikoff, M., Poutakidis, D.: Adding debugging support to the prometheus methodology. Engin. Applications of Art. Intel. 18, 173–190 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Kiczales, G., et al.: Aspect-Oriented Programming. In: Aksit, M., Matsuoka, S. (eds.) ECOOP 1997. LNCS, vol. 1241, pp. 220–242. Springer, Heidelberg (1997)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  31. Padgham, L., Lambrix, P.: Agent capabilities: Extending bdi theory. In: Proceedings of the Seventeenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Twelfth Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence, pp. 68–73 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Pokahr, A., et al.: Jadex Tool Guide - Release 0.93. Distributed Systems Group, University of Hamburg, Germany (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Garcia, A., et al.: Engineering multi-agent systems with aspects and patterns. Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society 8, 57–72 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Robbes, R., Bouraqadi, N., Stinckwich, S.: An aspect-based multi-agent system. In: Research Track of the ESUG 2004 Smalltalk Conference, öthen (Anhalt), Germany (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  35. de Lucena, C.J.P., et al.: Aspects in Agent-Oriented Software Engineering: Lessons Learned. In: Müller, J.P., Zambonelli, F. (eds.) AOSE 2005. LNCS, vol. 3950, pp. 231–247. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Garcia, A., Chavez, C., Choren, R.: Enhancing agent–oriented models with aspects. In: AAMAS ’06: Proceedings of the fifth international joint conference on Autonomous agents and multiagent systems, ACM Press, New York (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Garcia, A., Chavez, C., Choren, R.: An aspect–oriented modeling framework for designing multi–agent systems. In: Padgham, L., Zambonelli, F. (eds.) AOSE VII / AOSE 2006. LNCS, vol. 4405, Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  38. Ferber, J.: Multi-Agent Systems. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Sudeikat, J., Renz, W.: On the redesign of self–organizing multi–agent systems. International Transactions on Systems Science and Applications (Special Issue on SOAS’06) 2, 81–89 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Sudeikat, J., et al.: Validation of bdi agents. In: Bordini, R.H., et al. (eds.) PROMAS 2006. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 4411, Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  41. Sudeikat, J., Renz, W.: Mesoscopic Modeling of Emergent Behavior - A Self-organizing Deliberative Minority Game. In: Brueckner, S.A., et al. (eds.) ESOA 2005. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3910, pp. 167–181. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Multimedia Systems Lab, Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Berliner Tor 7, 20099 Hamburg, Germany

    Jan Sudeikat & Wolfgang Renz

Authors
  1. Jan Sudeikat
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wolfgang Renz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Lin Padgham Franco Zambonelli

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Sudeikat, J., Renz, W. (2007). Monitoring Group Behavior in Goal-Directed Agents Using Co-efficient Plan Observation. In: Padgham, L., Zambonelli, F. (eds) Agent-Oriented Software Engineering VII. AOSE 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4405. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-70945-9_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-70945-9_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-70944-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-70945-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation