Modeling and Analysis Methods for Multi-agent Systems

architecture for intelligent agents, and then constructing a Petri net model systematically from the abstract architecture description of the system. Different scenarios were considered in order to indicate how the Petri net analysis methodologies can be used to assess key system properties, showing that there is a relationship between multi-agent systems with indirect interaction and Petri nets. The mapping of multi-agent systems models with the abstract architecture into Petri net models captured the discrete-event dynamics of the systems under consideration. This allowed the assessment of properties like deadlock avoidance in a multi-agent system, which can be assessed systematically from the Petri net model. In general, the results presented in this work show the potential for using Petri nets to assess key properties of multi-agent systems. In addition, they provide the foundation to further investigate the application of Petri net methodologies for the modeling, analysis and design of multi-agent systems.