DeCoMAS: An Architecture for Supplementing MAS with Systemic Models of Decentralized Agent Coordination

The systematic conception of decentralized and self-adaptive software systems, as demanded for the run-time management of today’s distributed, multi-tier software architectures, is an active research area. Here, we discuss a coordination architecture that facilitates the enactment of externalized coordination models in Multi-agent Systems (MAS). Coordination is configured by systemic models, i.e. structures of agent-behaviour interdependencies that denote the mutual influences of agent activities. The systematic, iterative application development is supported by a non-intrusive integration approach that enables developers to adjust application dynamics by complementing agent-based applications with systemic coordination models.