Abstract
In this paper, a multi-agent system (MAS) modeling method called fuzzy timed object-oriented Petri nets (FTOPN) is proposed. FTO-PN has extended Petri nets (PN) supporting object-oriented modeling and temporal fuzzy learning based on timed hierarchical object-oriented Petri net (TOPN) and fuzzy timed Petri net (FTPN). Our focus is the adaptation according to TOPN concepts of cooperation objects for supporting synchronous and asynchronous communications and the temporal fuzzy learning proposed in FTPN. These two diagrams have been chosen because they are the most commonly used in modeling MAS and describing agent learning and reasoning ability. That is to say, they can be used to model and illustrate both the structural and dynamic aspects of MAS. Not only the proposed FTOPN can be used to model complex MAS, but also FTOPN model can be refined into the object-oriented implementation easily. It has bridged the gap between the formal modeling and the system refinement, which can overcome the development problems in agent-oriented software engineering. At the same time, it also can be regarded as a conceptual and practical artificial intelligence (AI) tool for the integration of MAS into the mainstream practice of software development.
