The Agent Systems Engineering Methodology (ASEME)
Nikolaos I. Spanoudakis · OpenGrey (Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique) · 2009
This thesis presents on one hand the Agent Modeling Language (AMOLA) for modeling multi-agent systems and on the other hand the Agent Systems Engineering Methodology (ASEME) for developing multi-agent systems. AMOLA supports a modular agent design approach and introduces the concepts of intra-and inter-agent control. The first defines the agent's behavior by coordinating the different modules that implement his capabilities, while the latter defines the protocols that govern the coordination of the society of the agents. AMOLA deals with both the individual and societal aspect of the agents showing how protocols and capabilities can be integrated hi agents design. This is the first originality of this thesis, the fact that the inter-agent control model is defined using the same formalism with the intra-agent control model thus allowing the integration of inter-agent protocols in the agent's model as capabilities. ASEME applies a model driven engineering approach to multi-agent systems development, thus the models of a previous development phase are transformed to models of the next phase. This is the second originality of this thesis, the fact that different models are created for each development phase and the transition of one phase to another is assisted by automatic model transformations leading from requirements to computer programs. The ASEME Platform Independent Model (PIM) that is the output of the design phase is a statechart that can be instantiated hi a number of platforms.