Abstract. Engineering non-trivial open multi-agent systems is a challenging task. Our research focusses on situated multi-agent systems, i.e. systems in which agents are explicitly placed in an environment which agents can perceive and in which they can act. Situated agents do not use long-term planning to decide what action sequence should be executed, but select actions based on the locally perceived state of the world and limited internal state. To cope with change and dynamism of the system, situated agents must be able to adapt their behavior. A well-known family of agent architectures for adaptive behavior are free-flow architectures. However, building a free-flow architecture based on an analysis of the problem domain is a quasi-impossible job for non-trivial agents. To tackle the complexity of designing adaptive agent behavior based on a free-flow architecture, suitable abstractions are needed to describe and structure the agent behavior. The abstraction of a role is obviously essential in this respect. A modeling language is needed as well to model the behavior of the agents. We propose a statechart modeling language to support the design of roles for situated agents. In this paper we describe a design process for adaptive behavior of situated agents as part of a multi-agent oriented methodology. The design process integrates the abstraction of a role with a free-flow architecture. Starting from the results of analysis of the problem domain, the designer incrementally refines the model of the agent behavior. The resulting class diagram serves as a basis for implementation. We illustrate the subsequent design steps with a case study on controlling a collection of automated guided vehicles. 1

An open multi-agent system (MAS) is a dynamic system in which agents can not only join or leave an agent society at will, but also take or release roles at runtime. Traditional multi-agent system development methodologies are not suitable for developing open multi-agent systems because they assume a fixed number of agents that are specified during the system analysis phase. In this paper, we propose a formal role-based modeling framework for open multi-agent software systems. We specify role organizations and role spaces as containers of conceptual roles and role instances, respectively, where role instances can be dynamically taken or released by agents from agent societies. To support rapid development of role-based open multi-agent systems, we introduce a three-layered design model of open MAS, and developed a prototype Role-based Agent Development Environment (RADE). Finally, we present a case study to demonstrate how an open MAS application can be efficiently built on RADE. Keywords: Role-based modeling, Open multi-agent systems, Object-Z formalism, Model-driven development, Role-based Agent Development Environment (RADE).

Alle rechten voorbehouden. Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden vermenigvuldigd en/of openbaar gemaakt worden door middel van druk, fotocopie, microfilm, elektronisch of op welke andere wijze ook zonder voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van de uitgever. All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced in any form by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means without written permission from the publisher. D/2006/7515/71

Abstract- This study focuses on query based learning in multiagent systems which include both data management operations and coordination activities. The study is oriented on agent based and database systems with model driven approach (MDA) which provides arrangement of data within a multi-agent system by letting filter with query based learning which supports the decision mechanism within the system. It uses the similarity measure on maximum entropy approach, which is often to find out interesting and meaningful patterns from databases. At the same time, it may generate a variety of rules, such as classification rules, throughout to learning rules of the query based learning process. Keywords: Multi-agent system, Query based learning, Model driven approach, Entropy

Abstract: In recent years, Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) had started gaining widespread acceptance in the field of information technology. This prompted many researchers to attempt to find ways to facilitate their development process, which typically includes building different models. The transformation of system specifications into models and their subsequent translation into code is often performed by relying on unstandardized methods, hindering adaptation to rapid changes in technology [1]. Furhtermore, there is a big gap between the analysis, the design and the implementation in the methodologies of multi-agent systems development [12]. On the other hand, we have seen that the top-down MDA (Model Driven Architecture) approach can be used to provide an efficient way to write specifications, develop applications and separation of business functions and application from the technical platform to be used. In this work, we propose using the MDA architecture for developing MAS. We demonstrate several different approaches, resulting in a variety of methods for developing MAS. This, in turn, increases the flexibility and ease of the development of MAS, and avoids any previously imposed restrictions. Keywords: Model Driven Architecture, Multi Agent System, Web ontology language, XMI. 1.