Using the pi-Calculus to Model Multiagent Systems

We present a formal framework that uses the π-calculus for modeling multiagent systems. A process algebra in general is a term algebra used as an abstract programming language that stresses the composition of processes by a small set of process operators. The π-calculus in particular allows one to express systems of processes that have changing communication structure. We explicate the agent abstraction as a π calculus process that persists through communication actions. Our principal task here is to show how the π-calculus can be used to model certain aspects that have already been specified for a major multiagent system. We also sketch how a π-calculus framework supports development activities in this context, and we suggest how various general aspects of multiagent systems may be modeled in this framework.

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