Pattern-Based Goal-Oriented Development of Fault-Tolerant MAS in Event-B

Abstract

Goal-oriented development facilitates structuring behaviour of complex multi-agent systems. It allows us to represent the required system behaviour as a set of goals to be accomplished by the agents with corresponding functionality. However, in general, the agents might fail and hence, to ensure goal reachability we should augment the goal-oriented framework with fault tolerance mechanisms. In this paper, we propose a formal pattern-based approach to formal modelling of fault tolerant MAS in Event-B. The framework allows us in a systematic and rigorous way to define complex relationships between the unreliable agents and goals. It is illustrated by a case study – a smart warehouse system.