Ambra Molesini

Developing pervasive multi-agent systems with nature-inspired coordination

Pervasive computing systems can be modelled effectively as populations of interacting autonomous components. The key challenge to realizing such models is in getting separately-specified and -developed sub-systems to discover and interoperate with each other in an open and extensible way, supported by appropriate middleware services. In this paper, we argue that nature-inspired coordination models offer a promising way of addressing this challenge. We first frame the various dimensions along which nature-inspired coordination models can be defined, and survey the most relevant proposals in the area. We describe the nature-inspired coordination model developed within the SAPERE project as a synthesis of existing approaches, and show how it can effectively support the multifold requirements of modern and emerging pervasive services. We conclude by identifying what we think are the open research challenges in this area, and identify some research directions that we believe are promising.

SODA: a roadmap to artefacts

An artefact for MASs is an entity not driven by an inner goal (as agents are), but used by agents to achieve their own goals. In this paper, we assume agents and artefacts as first-class entities in MAS engineering, and claim that agent-oriented methodologies should exploit these two abstractions as the basic bricks for the whole engineering process. As a first testbed, we take the SODA agent-oriented methodology and draw a possible roadmap for its extension toward the notion of artefact.

Zooming multi-agent systems

Complex systems call for a hierarchical description. Analogously, the engineering of non-trivial MASs (multiagent systems) requires principles and mechanisms for a multi-layered description, which could be used by MAS designers to provide different levels of abstraction over MASs. In this paper, we first advocate the need for zooming mechanisms, promoting a coherent and consistent multi-layered view of agent systems. After surveying the best-known AOSE methodologies, we focus on the scaling mechanisms of the OPM process-oriented methodology. Then, by adopting SODA as our reference, we show how an AOSE methodology can be enhanced with simple yet expressive zooming mechanisms. Finally, we present a simple case study where the enhanced agent-oriented methodology (SODA +zoom) is exploited and put to the test.

ADAPTABLE MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS: THE CASE OF THE GAIA METHODOLOGY

Changes and adaptations are always necessary after the deployment of a multi-agent system (MAS), as well as of any other type of software systems. Some of these changes may be simply perfective and have local impact only. However, adaptive changes to meet new situations in the operational environment of the MAS may impact globally on the overall design. More specifically, those changes usually affect the organizational structure of the MAS. In this paper we analyze the issue of design change/adaptation in a MAS organization, and the specific problem of how to properly model/design a MAS so as to make it ready for adaptation. Special attention is paid to the Gaia methodology, whose suitability in dealing with adaptable MAS organizations is also discussed with the help of an illustrative application example.

Environment in agent-oriented software engineering methodologies

The key role of environment as a first-class abstraction in the engineering of MAS (multi-agent systems) is today generally acknowledged in the MAS community. However, the support for the notion of environment in today AOSE (agent-oriented software engineering) methodologies is still either absent, weak, or incomplete at best. In this paper we first review, classify, and compare existing AOSE methodologies according to their support for the notion of MAS environment. Then we suggest a general approach for extending existing AOSE methodologies toward full environment support.

From AO Methodologies to MAS Infrastructures: The SODA Case Study

In the last years, research on agent-oriented (AO) methodologies and multi-agent system (MAS) infrastructures has developed along two opposite paths: while AO methodologies have essentially undergone a top-down evolution pushed by contributions from heterogeneous fields like human sciences, MAS infrastructures have mostly followed a bottom-up path growing from existing and widespread (typically object-oriented) technologies. This dichotomy has produced a conceptual gap between the proposed AO methodologies and the agent infrastructures actually available, as well as a technical gap in the MAS engineering practice, where methodologies are often built ad hocout of MAS infrastructures, languages and tools. This paper proposes a new method for filling the gap between methodologies and infrastructures based on the definition and study of the meta-models of both AO methodologies and MAS infrastructures. By allowing structural representation of abstractions to be captured along with their mutual relations, meta-models make it possible to map design-time abstractions from AO methodologies upon run-time abstractions from MAS technologies, thus promoting a more coherent and effective practice in MAS engineering. In order to validate our method, we take an AO methodology --- SODA --- and show how it can be mapped upon three different MAS infrastructures using meta-models as mapping guidelines.

MAS meta-models on test: UML vs. OPM in the SODA case study

In the AOSE (Agent-Oriented Software Engineering) area, several research efforts are underway to develop appropriate meta-models for agent-oriented methodologies. Meta-models are meant to check and verify the completeness and expressiveness of methodologies. In this paper, we put to test the well-established standard Unified Modelling Language (UML), and the emergent Object Process Methodology (OPM), and compare their meta-modelling power. Both UML and OPM are used to express the meta-model of SOFA, an agent-oriented methodology which stresses interaction and social aspects of MASs (multi-agent systems). Meta-modelling SOFA allows us to evaluate the effectiveness of the two approaches over both the structural and dynamics parts. Furthermore, this allow us to find out some desirable features that any effective approach to meta-modelling MAS methodologies should exhibit.

Handbook on Agent-Oriented Design Processes

To deal with the flexible architectures and evolving functionalities of complex modern systems, the agent metaphor and agent-based computing are often the most appropriate software design approach. As a result, a broad range of special-purpose design processes has been developed in the last several years to tackle the challenges of these specific application domains. In this context, in early 2012 the IEEE-FIPA Design Process Documentation Template SC0097B was defined, which facilitates the representation of design processes and method fragments through the use of standardized templates, thus supporting the creation of easily sharable repositories and facilitating the composition of new design processes. Following this standardization approach, this book gathers the documentations of some of the best-known agent-oriented design processes. After an introductory section, describing the goal of the book and the existing IEEE FIPA standard for design process documentation, thirteen processes (including the widely known Open UP, the de facto standard in object-oriented software engineering) are documented by their original creators or other well-known scientists working in the field. As a result, this is the first work to adopt a standard, unified descriptive approach for documenting different processes, making it much easier to study the individual processes, to rigorously compare them, and to apply them in industrial projects. While there are a few books on the market describing the individual agent-oriented design processes, none of them presents all the processes, let alone in the same format. With this handbook, for the first time, researchers as well as professional software developers looking for an overview as well as for detailed and standardized descriptions of design processes will find a comprehensive presentation of the most important agent-oriented design processes, which will be an invaluable resource when developing solutions in various application areas.

Situated process engineering for integrating processes from methodologies to infrastructures

In the field of Multi-Agent Systems (MASs), methodologies and infrastructures have developed in the last years along two opposite paths: while Agent-Oriented methodologies have essentially undergone a top-down evolution, MAS infrastructures have mostly followed a bottom-up path, producing a conceptual gap between methodologies and the available agent infrastructures. This paper aims at defining a method for filling such a gap, based on Situational Method Engineering (SME) and SPEM (Software Process Engineering Meta-model). After highlighting the lack of sufficient research and understanding about the role of the infrastructures in the software engineering process, we show that infrastructures, like methodologies, have processes behind them, and propose a method based on the integration of the processes underpinning both methodologies and infrastructures. Then, we validate such an approach by showing how the process of the SODA methodology can be integrated with the process of the TuCSoN infrastructure using SME and SPEM.

Simulation in Agent-Oriented Software Engineering: The SODA case study

The key role of simulation in the engineering of complex multiagent systems (MAS) is today generally acknowledged in the MAS community. However, the adoption of simulation in state-of-the-art Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) methodologies is still incomplete at its best. In this paper we present a simulation-based approach to MAS engineering and discuss its integration within AOSE methodologies. Integration is first discussed in general by adopting standard method engineering techniques, then detailed by means of a case study-that is, integrating simulation in SODA.