A Formal Methodology and Technique for Verifying Communication Protocols in a Multi-agent Environment

Author

Timothy H. Lacey

Date of Award

3-2000

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Scott A. DeLoach, PhD

Abstract

As network bandwidth increases, distributed applications are becoming increasingly prevalent. Systems using these applications are very complicated to build and must be dependable. Software agents are ideal for breaking complicated problems into manageable subtasks. Agent conversations, a series of messages passed between agents, are the cornerstone of multi-agent systems and must be deemed correct before being placed into service. The purpose of this research was to develop a formal methodology and technique to verify that the communication protocols defined in a multi-agent environment were valid. This was accomplished by examining agent conversations before deploying the system. An additional goal of this research was to develop a proof-of-concept module for agentTool that automatically verified some of the important properties identified in this methodology.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GCS-ENG-00M-12

DTIC Accession Number

ADA380726

Comments

The author's Vita page is omitted.

Recommended Citation

Lacey, Timothy H., "A Formal Methodology and Technique for Verifying Communication Protocols in a Multi-agent Environment" (2000). Theses and Dissertations. 4819.
https://scholar.afit.edu/etd/4819