A framework for multi-agent systems detailed design

The characteristics and expectations of new application areas for the enterprise such as e-business, knowledge management, peer-to-peer computing, or web services are deeply modifying information systems engineering. These systems must now be based on open architectures that continuously evolve to accommodate new component and meet new requirements. Most of the systems designed for these kinds of application areas are now de facto concurrent and distributed. They tend to be open and dynamic, in that they exist in a changing organizational and operational environment where new components can be added, modified, or removed at any time. Given these new needs, many researchers are looking for new concepts and techniques for engineering and managing information systems. In this context, Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) appear to be one promising paradigm. They represent dynamic and evolving structures which can change at run-time to benefit from the capabilities of new system entities or replace obsolete ones. However, designing MAS is not easy. In the thesis, we propose a framework for building MAS together with a catalogue of patterns for making design more efficient. We have also developed a tool to allow to build the components of a MAS using patterns and automate its implementation. This research takes places in the detailed design and implementation phases of the Tropos methodology. The key premise of Tropos is that agents, goals, and dependencies can be used as fundamental concepts during all the phases of the software-development life cycle, not just during requirement engineering.Doctorat en sciences de gestion (IAG 3)--UCL, 200