Formal Verification of a Map Merging Protocol in the Multi-Agent Programming Contest

TL;DR

This paper presents the formal verification of a complex communication protocol used by agents to merge maps in a multi-agent system, ensuring reliable cooperation through CSP-based specifications and validation.

Contribution

It introduces a formal CSP specification and verification of a multi-agent map merging protocol used in a competitive setting, enhancing confidence in its correctness.

Findings

Protocol behavior verified with known scenarios

All maps successfully merged in the verified protocol

Formal methods improve reliability of multi-agent communication

Abstract

Communication is a critical part of enabling multi-agent systems to cooperate. This means that applying formal methods to protocols governing communication within multi-agent systems provides useful confidence in its reliability. In this paper, we describe the formal verification of a complex communication protocol that coordinates agents merging maps of their environment. The protocol was used by the LFC team in the 2019 edition of the Multi-Agent Programming Contest (MAPC). Our specification of the protocol is written in Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP), which is a well-suited approach to specifying agent communication protocols due to its focus on concurrent communicating systems. We validate the specification's behaviour using scenarios where the correct behaviour is known, and verify that eventually all the maps have merged.