Petri Net based agent behavior definition and execution for Multi-agent Systems

The paradigm of Multi-agent Systems has been developed targeting scenarios with multiple actors involved in complex interactions. The nature of agent behaviors and their interactions often requires elaborate models which have to be developed, analysed and tested. This paper addresses the issue of behavior modeling for Multi-agent Systems by using the Petri Net formalism. It also describes an implementation based on the PetriNetExec Java embeddable library which supports the definition and execution of Petri Net based behaviors. The evaluation of our solution has been performed through the integration into the CoReMo simulator, a tool which we have developed in order support the research, development and evaluation of new control and monitoring solutions in actor rich, mobile environments.