ACDL: a communication choreography for discrete step multi-agent social simulations

ABSTRACT

Considerable research has been done on agent communications, yet in discrete step social agent simulations there is no standardized work done to facilitate cognitive agent-to-agent communication. In this paper we propose an agent-to-agent interaction framework that preserves the integrity of the communication process in an artificial society in a 'time-stepped' discrete event simulator. We introduce the modeling language called Agent Choreography Description Language (ACDL) in order to model the communication. It serves in describing the common and collaborative observable behavior of multiple agents that need to interact in a peer to peer manner to achieve some goal. ACDL further adopts the parallel and interaction activities to model proper communication in an artificial society. The ACDL communication framework is implemented and tested in REPAST. It employs a communication manager to generate and execute ACDL specification according to agent's communication needs. Experiments reveal a successful execution of agent choreography and preservation of the communication logic, indicating a promising approach towards a standardized agent communication framework in discrete models.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.3 Group and Organization Interfaces

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Languages

Keywords:
ACDL, WS-CDL, agent communication, artificial society, discrete event simulation