Formalizing Multi-Agent Systems Using Action Descriptions in Single Agent Perspective

TL;DR

This paper introduces a formal method for modeling multi-agent systems by starting from individual agent actions and systematically composing a global system view, simplifying the knowledge representation process.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach to formalize multi-agent systems using single agent action descriptions and a two-stage process for conflict resolution and global view construction.

Findings

Provides a systematic method for multi-agent system modeling

Simplifies the representation of multi-agent interactions

Facilitates the development of global system models from individual agent descriptions

Abstract

Logic-based representations of multi-agent systems have been extensively studied. In this work, we focus on the action language BC to formalize global views of MAS domains. Methodologically, we start representing the behaviour of each agent by an action description from a single agent perspective. Then, it goes through two stages that guide the modeler in composing the global view by first designating multi-agent aspects of the domain via potential conflicts and later resolving these conflicts according to the expected behaviour of the overall system. Considering that representing single agent descriptions is relatively simpler than representing multi-agent description directly, the formalization developed here is valuable from a knowledge representation perspective.