Reducing dependency on network reliability and availability by encapsulating the negotiation functionalities in ACL messages

Abstract

Network management of multi-agent system could be provided by FIPA agents communicating via ACL (Agent Communicating Language) messages. Such agents can significantly enhance the possibility of dynamic network negotiation and optimization, i.e. reduce dependency on network availability and reliability, encapsulating these functionalities in ACL messages. Here we offer formal specification of such agents using Coloured Petri Nets (CPN) in order to support their validation and verification. We model inter-agent communication via ACL messages specified by Petri colours. We also give an insight into a correlation between informal (AUML Sequnce Diagram) and formal (CPN Tools Diagram) modelling techniques with suggestion on their merging.