Toward Requirements Engineering for Self - Organizing Multi - Agent Systems

Since Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) are composed of sets of (inter-)acting autonomous and pro-active agents, they provide suitable concepts to the construction of self- organizing processes, promising robust and adaptive system behaviors. An examination of current software-engineering approaches to self-organizing MAS identified a lack of requirement engineering approaches, established in general- purpose engineering methodologies. As self-organizing dynamics are typically utilized to enforce continuous MAS adjustment we discuss how expectations on MAS adaptivity can be expressed and validated, considering both the intended system configurations as well as the system dynamics that steer system (re-)configuration. We argue that self-organizing MAS development typically intends recurring pattern of system dynamics and exemplify their specification and validation, transferring requirements engineering practices to self-organizing MAS development.