Abstract
Recent computational problems in computing include several areas, which are prime candidates as applications of agent systems, such as artificial intelligence, logistics, and data analytics. Specification of such agent systems using formal languages not only results in reliable systems, but also provide for the validation of agent-based systems. The advantages of using formal methods in specifying agent systems during the entire life cycle has not been exploited in practice since the field is still emerging. This chapter has topics that cover the use of a formal specification language and discusses in detail the tool support developed to execute the specifications written using the extended Descartes specification language. Software agent-based systems come with various characteristics, such as autonomous, reactive, proactive, and goal-oriented. These agent characteristics fit inside various application areas. The application areas included in this chapter are in information management, electronic commerce, and medical applications where agents are used in patient monitoring and health care. Rather than building the applications from scratch, this chapter makes use of existing applications alongside of the formal specification language, the Descartes specification language to analyze the language features for crucial aspects of the applications. Descriptions of the case studies are explained to describe an agent system and the formal specifications written for specifying such a system. The applications consider agent systems that are defined using specific agent properties along with the interaction of an agent with its environment.
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Subburaj, V.H., Urban, J.E. (2016). Formal Specification Language and Agent Applications. In: Kołodziej, J., Correia, L., Manuel Molina, J. (eds) Intelligent Agents in Data-intensive Computing. Studies in Big Data, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23742-8_5
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