An integrated approach for the development and validation of multi-agent systems

However, the development of complex software systems by using the agent-oriented approach requires suitable agentoriented modelling techniques and methodologies which provide explicit support for the key abstractions of the agent paradigm. Several methodologies supporting analysis, design and implementation of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) have been proposed in the context of Agent Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) [2]. Some of the emerging methodologies are Gaia [3], MaSE [4], Prometheus [5], Tropos [6], Message [7], Passi [8], and Adelfe [9]. These notable efforts basically provide a top-down iterative approach for the modelling and the development of agent-based systems. Although, from the software development life-cycle point of view, such methodologies fully cover requirements capture, architectural design and detailed design, the implementation phase is currently not well supported [10]. In fact, it is difficult to map design models onto different target agent platforms since a seamless translation process is usually not provided. Furthermore, none of these methodologies supports validation through simulation of the MAS under development before its actual deployment and execution. Validation through simulation or through formal methods can demonstrate that a MAS correctly behaves according to its specifications. In particular, discrete-event simulators are highly required for evaluating how complex MAS work on scales much larger than those