On the Development of Multi-agent Systems Product Lines: A Domain Engineering Process

Multi-agent System Product Lines (MAS-PLs) are the integration of two promising technologies: Multi-agent Systems (MASs), which provides a powerful abstraction to model features with autonomous and pro-active behavior, and Software Product Lines (SPLs), whose aim is to reduce both time-to-market and costs in the development of system families by the exploitation of commonalities among family members. This paper presents a domain engineering process for developing MASPLs. It defines activities and work products, whose purposes include allowing agent variability and providing agent features traceability, both not addressed by current SPL and MAS approaches.