A survey of agent-oriented methodologies

This article introduces the current agent-oriented methodologies. It discusses what approaches have been followed (mainly extending existing object oriented and knowledge engineering methodologies), the suitability of these approaches for agent modelling, and some conclusions drawn from the survey

Supporting Tropos concepts in Agent OPEN

The growth of interest in agent-orientation as a new paradigm has introduced the need for developing concepts, tools and techniques for modeling and engineering agent-based software systems. Object technology has been supporting the development of information systems for many years but is now slowly evolving to encompass more recent ideas relating to the concept of "agent". Integrating agent concepts into existing OO methodologies has resulted in several agent-oriented methodologies, one of which is Agent OPEN. In this paper, we evaluate the existing Agent OPEN description against ideas formulated within Tropos, an agent-oriented software development methodology. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004

Analysis and design of multiagent systems using MAS-CommonKADS

This article proposes an agent-oriented methodology called MAS-CommonKADS and develops a case study. This methodology extends the knowledge engineering methodology CommonKADSwith techniquesfrom objectoriented and protocol engineering methodologies. The methodology consists of the development of seven models: Agent Model, that describes the characteristics of each agent; Task Model, that describes the tasks that the agents carry out; Expertise Model, that describes the knowledge needed by the agents to achieve their goals; Organisation Model, that describes the structural relationships between agents (software agents and/or human agents); Coordination Model, that describes the dynamic relationships between software agents; Communication Model, that describes the dynamic relationships between human agents and their respective personal assistant software agents; and Design Model, that refines the previous models and determines the most suitable agent architecture for each agent, and the requirements of the agent network

Using a situational method engineering approach to identify reusable method fragments from the secure TROPOS methodology

Situational method engineering (SME) has as a focus a repository of method fragments, gleaned from extant methodologies and best practice. Using one such example, the OPF (OPEN Process Framework) repository, we identify deficiencies in the current SME support for securityrelated issues in the context of agent-oriented software engineering. Specifically, theoretical proposals for the development of reusable security-related method fragments from the agent-oriented methodology Secure Tropos are discussed. Since the OPF repository has already been enhanced by fragments from Tropos and other non-security-focussed agent-oriented software development methodologies, the only method fragments from Secure Tropos not already contained in this repository are those that are specifically security-related. These are identified, clearly defined and recommended for inclusion in the current OPF repository of method fragments. ©JOT 2010

A platform-independent model for agents

Various agent-oriented methodologies and metamodels exist to describe multiagent systems ([VIAS) in an abstract manner. Frequently, these frameworks specialize on particular parts of the MAS and only few works have been invested to derive a common standardization. This limits t he impact of agent-related systems in commercial applications. In this paper, we present a metamodel for agent systems that abstract from existing agent-oriented methodologies and platforms and could thus be called platform-independent. This metamodel provides the core language that is used in our agentoriented software development process that conforms to the principles of Model-Driven Developrnent (MDD). Beside the domain-specific modelling language, we further provide two model transformations that allow to transform the generated models into textual code that call be executed with JACK and JADE

Agent-oriented software engineering methodologies : analysis and future directions

The Internet of Things (IoT) facilitates in building cyber-physical systems, which are significant for Industry 4.0. Agent-based computing represents effective modeling, programming, and simulation paradigm to develop IoT systems. Agent concepts, techniques, methods, and tools are being used in evolving IoT systems. Over the last years, in particular, there has been an increasing number of agent approaches proposed along with an ever-growing interest in their various implementations. Yet a comprehensive and full-fledged agent approach for developing related projects is still lacking despite the presence of agent-oriented software engineering (AOSE) methodologies. One of the moves towards compensating for this issue is to compile various available methodologies, ones that are comparable to the evolution of the unified modeling language (UML) in the domain of object-oriented analysis and design. These have become de facto standards in software development. In line with this objective, the present research attempts to comprehend the relationship among seven main AOSE methodologies. More specifically, we intend to assess and compare these seven approaches by conducting a feature analysis through examining the advantages and limitations of each competing process, structural analysis, and a case study evaluation method. This effort is made to address the significant characteristics of AOSE approaches. The main objective of this study is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of selected AOSE methodologies and provide a proposal of a draft unified approach that drives strengths (best) of these methodologies towards advancement in this area.publishedVersio

Method integration: An approach to develop agent oriented methodologies

Agent oriented software engineering (AOSE) is an emerging field in computer science  and  proposes some systematic ideas for multi agent systems analysis, implementation and maintenance. Despite the various methodologies introduced in the agent-oriented software engineering, the main challenges are defects in different aspects of methodologies. According to the defects resulted from weaknesses in agent oriented methodologies in different aspects, a combinatory solution named ARA using, ASPECS, ROADMAP and AOR has been proposed. The three methodologies were analyzed in a comprehensive analytical framework according to concepts and Perceptions, modeling language, process and pragmatism. According to time and resource limitations, sample methodologies for evaluation and in titration were selected. This selection was based on the use of methodologies' and their combination ability. The evaluation show that, the ROADMAP methodology supports stages of agent-oriented systems' analysis and the design stage is not complete because it doesn’t model all semi agents. On the other hand, since AOR and ASPECS methodologies support the design stage and inter agent interactions, a mixed methodology has been proposed and is a combination of analysis stage of ROADMAP methodology and design stage of AOR and ASPECS methodologies. Furthermore, to increase the performance of proposed methodology of actor models, service model, capability and programming were also added to this proposed methodology. To describe its difference phases, it was used in a case study too. Results of this project can pave the way to introduce future agent-oriented methodologies

Designing and specifying mobility within the multiagent systems engineering methodology

Recently, researchers have created many platforms and applications for mobile agents; however, current Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) methodologies have yet not fully integrated the unique properties of these mobile agents. This paper attempts to bridge the gap between current AOSE methodologies and mobile agent systems by incorporating mobility into the established Multiagent Systems Engineering (MaSE) methodology. We accomplished this by adding a move command to the MaSE analysis models and then defined the required transformations to incorporate the required functionality into the design. Finally, we translated the design models into Java-based agents that operate within a mobile agent environment. 1