Agent-based software engineering

TLDR

Intelligent agents and multi‑agent systems are expected to radically change how complex, distributed, open systems are conceptualised and implemented. The paper examines building a multi‑agent system as a software engineering enterprise, focusing on agent specification, refinement into efficient implementations, and verification against specifications. These issues are explored through several case studies. The study concludes by outlining open research problems.

Abstract

The technology of intelligent agents and multi-agent systems is expected to alter radically the way in which complex, distributed, open systems are conceptualised and implemented. The paper considers the problem of building a multi-agent system as a software engineering enterprise. Three issues are focused on: how agents might be specified; how these specifications might be refined or otherwise transformed into efficient implementations; and how implemented agents and multi-agent systems might subsequently be verified, to show that they are correct with respect to their specifications. These issues are discussed with reference to a number of case studies. The paper concludes by setting out some issues and open problems for future research.