A novel conformance testing technique for Agent Interaction Protocols

Agent Interaction Protocols (AIP) play a crucial role in multi-agent systems development. AIP allow specifying interactions (sequences of messages) between agents. As agent-oriented development emerges, testing agent-based software is receiving increased research attention. We present, in this paper, a novel conformance testing technique for agent interaction protocols. The approach supports an incremental testing strategy that considers both agent and society testing of Multi-Agent Systems. It uses aspect-oriented technology to support and monitor the testing process. The proposed technique consists in two main phases: (1) Generating adequate test cases from a formal description of Multi-Agent Systems´ behavior, and (2) Verifying the execution of test cases. The technique is supported by a visual tool (AIPTE: Agent Interaction Protocols Testing Environment). A case study is presented to illustrate the approach.