Abstract  In  recent  years,  Multi-Agent  Systems  (MAS)  had  star ted  gaining  widespread  acceptance  in  the  field  of  information  technology.  This  prompted  many  researchers  to  attem pt  to  find  ways  to  facilitate  their  development  process,  which  typically  includes  building  different  models.  The  transformat ion  of  system  specifications  into  models  and  their subsequent  translation  into  code  is  often  performed  by  relying  on  unstanda rdized  methods,  hindering  adaptation  to  rapid  chang es  in  technology.  Furhtermore,  there  is  a  big  gap  between  the  analysi s,  the  design  and  the  implementation  in  the  methodo logies  of  multi-agent  systems development. On the other hand, we have see n that the top-down Model Driven Architecture (MDA)  approach can be  used  to  provide  an  efficient  way  to  write  specifica tions,  develop  applications  and  separation  of  busin ess  functions  and  application from the technical platform to be used.  In this work, we propose using the MDA architectur e for developing MAS.  We  demonstrate  several  different  approaches,  result ing  in  a  variety  of  methods  for  developing  MAS.  Thi s,  in  turn,  increases  the flexibility and ease of the development of MAS,  and avoids any previously imposed restrictions.   

References

[1] Amor M., Fuentes L., and Vallecillo A., Bridging the Gap Between Agent-Oriented Design and Implementation Using MDA, in Proceedings of the 5 th International Workshop on Agent-Oriented Software Engineering , New York, vol. 3382, pp. 93-108, 2004.

[2] Amyot D., Use Case Maps Quick Tutorial, Version 1.0. SITE, University of Ottawa, available at: http://cserg.site.uottawa.ca/ucm/ pub/UCM/VirLibTutorial99/UCMtutorial.pdf last visited 1999.

[3] Brand o A., Alves F., Da-Silva V., and De- Lucena C., A Model Driven Approach to Develop Multi-Agent Systems , RIO De Janeiro, Brasil, 2005.

[4] Brown A., An Introduction to Model Driven Architecture, avalabile at: http://www.ibm.com/ developerworks/rational/library/3100.html, last visited 2010.

[5] Dastani M., Hulstijn J., Dignum F., and Meyer J., Issues in Multiagent System Development, in Proceedings of the 3 rd International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi- Agent Systems , USA, vol. 2, pp. 922-929, 2004.

[6] De-Maria B., da-Silva V., and de-Lucena C., An MDA-Based Approach for Developing Multi- Agent Systems, in Proceedings of the CAiSE Forum , Portugal, 2005.

[7] De-Loach S. and Wood M., Developing Multiagent Systems with agentTool , Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2001.

[8] Dikenelli O., Erdur R., Kardas G., G m s ., Seylan I., G rcan ., Tiryaki A., and Ekinci E., Developing Multi Agent Systems on Semantic Web Environment using SEAGENT Platform, in Proceedings of the 6 th International Conference on Engineering Societies in the Agents World , Berlin, pp. 1-13, 2005.

[9] Elammari M. and Lalonde W., An Agent- Oriented Methodology: High-Level and Intermediate Models, in Proceedings of the 1 st International Workshop on Agent-Oriented Information Systems , Germany, pp. 1-8, 1999. Using Model Driven Architecture to Develop Multi-Agent Systems 355

[10] Miller J. and Mukerji J., MDA Guide Version 1.0.1.OMG , avalibale at: http://www.omg.org/ docs/omg/03-06-01.pdf, last visited 2003.

[11] Nikraz M., Caire G., and Bahri P., A Methodology for the Analysis and Design of Multi-Agent Systems using JADE, International Journal of Computer Systems Science and Engineering , vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 1-40, 2006.

[12] Xu H., Zhang X., and Patel R., Developing Role-Based Open Multi-Agent Software Systems, International Journal of Computational Intelligence Theory and Practice , vol. 3, pp. 246-253, 2007. Mohamed Elammari received his BSc and MSc degrees in computer science from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada and a PhD degree in computer science from the Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Currently, he is Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology at the University of Benghazi, where he is also a professor in the Department of Software Engineering. His research interests include software engineering, agent syste ms, and e-government. Zeinab Issa received his BSc and MSc degrees in computer science from University of Benghazi in Benghazi, Libya. Currently, she is working towards PhD degree in software engineering. Her general research interests include software engineering and Multi-agent systems.