CaseLP: a Prototyping Environment for Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Systems

This paper describes CaseLP, a logic-based environment for modelling and prototyping Multi-Agent Systems (MASs). CaseLP provides an Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) methodology which guides the MAS developer from the late requirement analysis stage to the prototype validation stage. CaseLP also offers a set of languages and tools both for modelling agents that are characterised by heterogeneous architectures, and for developing a prototype of the MAS in a semi-automatic way. Full support for validating the MAS model by running the prototype is offered, while limited aid for the formal verification of the MAS properties is supplied. CaseLP has been used to develop real applications in collaboration with industrial partners, thus demonstrating the advantages of rapid prototyping in AOS