A Protocol-Based Semantics for FIPA'97 ACL and its Implementation in JADE

There are fundamental limitations on using mental attitudes to formalise the semantics of an Agent Communication Language (ACL). In this paper, we define a general semantic framework for a class of ACLs in terms of protocols, and develop a method for designing and specifying a member of this class, and configuring it for a particular application. We then analyse the performatives and protocols of FIPA’97 ACL from this point of view. We show its usage in the agent execution model of JADE, a software framework to develop agent applications in compliance with the FIPA specifications for interoperable intelligent multi-agent systems.