Towards a customized methodology to develop multi-agent systems

Abstract

Despite a great deal of research, there still exists a number of challenges before making agent-based computing a widely accepted paradigm in software engineering practice. In order to realize an engineering change in agent oriented software engineering, it's necessary to turn agent oriented software abstractions into practical tools for facing the complexity of modern application areas. The paper presents a customizable development architecture for multi-agent systems, which can empower the developer to assemble a methodology tailored to the given project by putting appropriate meta models together, much like developers building applications from third party off-the-shelf components. To exemplify its feasibility and effectivity, the construction of C4I system is presented as a case study. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.