Modelling a multi-agent system environment

Abstract

A multi-agent System (MAS) can be viewed as a software system evolving in some environment, with which it has to interact. During the MAS life cycle, many situations may occur, situations that are considered to be critical and that would have an effect on the MAS, prompting it to quickly adjust to this new situation. A design methodology of a MAS should help the designer to represent information about a changing environment and its effects on the MAS, an aspect of the modelling task which is currently lacking from agent design methodologies. We propose to add two new diagrams: an environment diagram and an agent diagram, to MAS modelling methodologies. These diagrams will conceptualise the impact of the environment on the structure of the MAS, and therefore should guide the development of the actual implementation of the MAS.