On the Development of Multi-agent Systems Product Lines: A Domain Engineering Process

Multi-agent System Product Lines (MAS-PLs) are the integration of two promising technologies: Multi-agent Systems (MASs), which provides a powerful abstraction to model features with autonomous and pro-active behavior, and Software Product Lines (SPLs), whose aim is to reduce both time-to-market and costs in the development of system families by the exploitation of commonalities among family members. This paper presents a domain engineering process for developing MAS-PLs. It defines activities and work products, whose purposes include allowing agent variability and providing agent features traceability, both not addressed by current SPL and MAS approaches.