PRESAGE: A Programming Environment for the Simulation of Agent Societies

摘要

The paradigm of agent societies has proved particularly apposite for modelling multi-agent systems for networked applications, in particular when the network is open, dynamic and decentralised. In this paper, we describe a software environment which can be used for simulation and animation of these models, allowing a system designer to investigate the complex social behaviour of components, the evolution of network structures, and the adaptation of conventional rules. Effectively, the environment serves as a rapid prototyping tool for agent societies, where the focus of interest is long-term, global system behaviour as much as the verification of specific properties.