In this post I want to talk about a recent paper about MAS metamodels. A metamodel is an abstraction that describes the information that is required for a model of the entities and relationships in the MAS domain.  In their paper, Viana et al (2021) state that, while models and languages have developed to handle MAS programming, there is “there is a lack of support in these models and languages for abstractions involving norms and adaptations as well as their interactions.”  (Viana et al., 2021, abstract). 

In order to assess existing metamodels, a generic metamodel template called FAML is used to assess the expressiveness of the current collection of meta-models (Beydoun et al., 2009).   The result is a table showing eight existing MAS metamodels with their assessed expressiveness in and 17 sub-categories grouped into three main categories (agent, adaptive, norm).

The authors proposed the future creation of a new, fully FAML expressive metamodel called Adaptive Normative Agent Modeling Language (ANA-ML).

References:

Beydoun G., Low, G. Henderson-Sellers B, Mouratidis, H. , Gomez-Sanz, J., Pavon, J. Gonzalez-Perez, C. (2009).  IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, November 2009, 35(6) p.841- 863.

Viana, M., Alencar, P., Lucena, C (2021). 2021  Towards an Adaptive and Normative Multi-Agent System Metamodel and Language: Existing Approaches and Research Opportunities.   Retrieved July 22, 2023 from https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.13084v1

Viana, M., Alencar P., Guimarães, E., Cirilo,   E., Lucena,   C. (2022). Creating a Modeling Language Based on a New Metamodel for Adaptive Normative Software Agents.  IEEE Access, vol. 10, pp. 13974-13996, 2022, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3147144.