Representing and Executing Agent-Based Systems

In this paper we describe an approach to the representation and implementation of agent-based systems where the behaviour of an individual agent is represented by a set of logical rules in a particular form. This not only provides a logical specification of the agent, but also allows us to directly execute the rules in order to implement the agent’s behaviour. Agents communicate with each other through a simple, and logically well-founded, broadcast communication mechanism. In addition, agents can be grouped together. This not only restricts the extent of broadcast messages, but also provides a structuring mechanism within the agent space. The purpose of this paper is threefold: to motivate the use of our particular computational model; to show that a logic-based approach is both possible and potentially very powerful; and to assert that by narrowing the gap between the agent theory and the agent programming language, we are able to bring the prospect of formal specification and verification of multi-agent systems nearer.