0000000000268934
AUTHOR
Vincent Hilaire
A Norm-Governed Holonic Multi-agent System Metamodel
Modeling and designing systems that require a high level of coordination, control and automation is a very difficult task. The problem is the lack of design processes able to cover all the features these systems present. This paper presents an extension of the ASPECS metamodel for supporting organizational and normative principles and it allows to define models not only from an holonic agent viewpoint but also from a normative organization perspective. Moreover, our work emphasizes and makes it explicit the norms that regulate the structural, behavioral and finally adaptive aspect of an organizational system. The extended metamodel was experimented creating a Virtual Enterprise model for th…
Introduction
Nowadays, software engineers face a wide range of particular application domains such as electronic commerce, enterprise resource planning, mobile computing, self-organisation, pervasive and adaptive computing, etc. The resulting heterogeneity and required functionalities call for complex systems and open architectures that may evolve dynamically over time so as to accommodate new components and meet new requirements. This is probably one of the main reasons why the agent metaphor and agent-based computing are gaining momentum in these areas.
Engineering multi-agent systems using feedback loops and holarchies
This paper presents a methodological approach for the engineering of Multi-Agent Systems using feedback loops as a first class concept in order to identify organizations. Feedback loops are a way for modeling complex systems that expose emergent behavior by means of a cause-effect loop between two levels called micro and macro levels of the system. The proposed approach principles consist in defining an abstract feedback loop pattern and providing activities and guidelines in order to identify and refine possible candidates for feedback loops during the analysis phase of the Aspecs methodology. This approach is illustrated by using an example drawn from the smart grid field.
The OpenUp Process
The Open Unified Process (OpenUp) is an iterative design process that structures the project lifecycle into four phases: Inception, Elaboration, Construction, and Transition. It is part of the Eclipse Process Framework and embraces a pragmatic, agile philosophy that focuses on the collaborative nature of software development. It is a tools-agnostic, low-ceremony process that can be extended to address a broad variety of project types. The project lifecycle provides stakeholders and team members with visibility and decision points throughout the project and makes them able to manage their work through micro-increments.
THE METAMODEL: A STARTING POINT FOR DESIGN PROCESSES CONSTRUCTION
The construction of ad-hoc design processes following the Situational Method Engineering (SME) paradigm is currently carried out by adopting a set of phases for which, until now, no well defined techniques and guidelines have been established. The consequence is that organizations are very dependent on method designers' skills. In this paper, we propose an approach based on SME for constructing customized agent oriented design processes. Our approach adopts the metamodel as the most important factor leading to the selection and assembly of method fragments and an algorithm for establishing the instantiation order of metamodel elements. The algorithm makes the proposed approach repeatable a…
Intelligent Energy Management System
Energy management is nowadays a subject of great importance and complexity. It consists in choosing among a set of sources able to produce energy that will give energy to a set of loads by minimising losses and costs. The sources and loads are heterogeneous, distributed and the reaction of the system, the choice of sources, must be done in real-time to avoid power outage. The goal of this paper is to present a system able to self-regulate a heterogeneous set of power sources and loads organised as a coherent group of entities that is called micro-grid, in order to optimize several criteria such as: cost and efficiency. This system is based upon the Multi-Agent Systems paradigm. Each micro-g…
A MAS metamodel-driven approach to process fragments selection
The construction of ad-hoc design processes is more and more required today. In this paper we present our approach for the construction of a new design process following the Situational Method Engineering paradigm. We mainly focus on the selection and assembly activities on the base of what we consider a key element in agent design processes: the MAS metamodel. The paper presents an algorithm establishing a priority order in the realization (instantiation) of MAS metamodel elements by the fragments that will compose the new process.
An approach based upon Model-Based System Engineering and Value Analysis for Sustainable Systems
International audience; An approach based upon Model-Based System Engineering and Value Analysis for Sustainable Systems
The IEEE-FIPA Standard on the Design Process Documentation Template
Nowadays, it is a matter of fact that a “one-size-fit-all” methodology or design process useful and fitting every kind of problem, situation, or design context does not exist. (Situational) Method Engineering (SME) discipline aims at determining techniques and tools for developing ad hoc design methodologies. SME mainly and highly focuses on the reuse of portion of existing design processes or methodologies (the method fragments). In order to have means for creating SME techniques and tools and for creating new design processes, some key elements are needed: a unique process metamodel for representing design processes and fragments, a proper template for the description of AO design process…
An organisational approach to engineer emergence within holarchies
An open issue in self-organisation is how to engineer emergent behaviours. This issue is also of interest for engineering holonic multi-agent systems as any level of a holarchy is dependant of the emergent behaviours of its sub-levels. In order to tackle this specific feature of holonic multi-agent systems, the capacity concept which abstracts a know-how from its concrete realisation is introduced. The use of this concept is illustrated in this paper through a case study using the ASPECS development process which enables the analysis, design, implementation and deployment of holonic multi-agent systems and integrates the capacity as a core concept of it is underlying metamodel, called capac…