Formal reasoning about resilient goal-oriented multi-agent systems

In this paper we present our formalisation of a resilient goal-oriented multi-agent system and its essential properties. The formalisation covers the notions of system goals and agents, various formal structures (functions and relations) defining different interrelationships between these notions, a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science of computer programming Vol. 148; pp. 66 - 87
Main Authors: Laibinis, L., Pereverzeva, I., Troubitsyna, E.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier B.V 15.11.2017
Subjects:
Event-B
Formal reasoning
Goal-oriented development
Multi-agent systems
System resilience
Event-B
Formal reasoning
Goal-oriented development
System resilience
Multi-agent systems
ISSN:0167-6423, 1872-7964
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In this paper we present our formalisation of a resilient goal-oriented multi-agent system and its essential properties. The formalisation covers the notions of system goals and agents, various formal structures (functions and relations) defining different interrelationships between these notions, as well as constraints on the system dynamics allowing a multi-agent system to become more reconfigurable and thus resilient in order to achieve the system goals. The formalisation results in establishing connections between goals at different levels of abstraction, system architecture and agent responsibilities. The proposed formal systematisation of the involved concepts can be seen as generic guidelines for formal development of reconfigurable systems. Moreover, we demonstrate how such guidelines can be interpreted within the Event-B framework. •We present a formalisation of a resilient goal-oriented multi-agent system and its essential properties.•The essential concepts of system agents, goals, and their various relationships are formalised.•The conditions to ensure system resilience and reconfigurability are investigated.•The formalisation can be seen as generic guidelines for formal development of such systems.•We demonstrate how such guidelines can be interpreted within the Event-B framework.
ISSN:0167-6423
1872-7964
DOI:10.1016/j.scico.2017.05.008