James L. Rash

Michael G. Hinchey

Christopher Rouff

Walter F. Truszkowski

Diana Gordon-Spears

The idea of a FAABS workshop was first conceived in 1998 at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, while the Agent Technology Development Group in the Advanced Architectures and Automation Branch (Code 588) was developing a prototype agent community to automate satellite ground operations. While developing this system, several race conditions arose within and between agents. Due to the complexity of the agents and the communications between them, it was decided that a formal approach was needed to specify the agents and the communications between them, so that the system could be checked for additional errors. A formal model of the inter-agent communications was developed, with the expectation that this would enable us to find more errors. Success in this convinced us of the importance of using formal methods to model agent-based systems. To share our own experiences and to learn how others were approaching these issues, we decided to hold a workshop on formal methods and agent-based systems. The response was overwhelming. The result was the first FAABS workshop, which was held at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Posters, paper presentations, panels, and an invited talk by J Moore stimulated much discussion and subsequent collaboration.

Second International Workshop, FAABS 2002, Greenbelt, MD, USA, October 29-31, 2002, Revised Papers

Formal Approaches to Agent-Based Systems

David G. Simpson

Harold L. Hallock

Gary Welter

This book de-emphasizes the formal mathematical description of spacecraft on-board attitude and orbit applications in favor of a more qualitative, concept-oriented presentation of these topics. The information presented in this book was originally given as a set of lectures in 1999 and 2000 instigated by a NASA Flight Software Branch Chief at Goddard Space Flight Center. The Branch Chief later suggested this book. It provides an approachable insight into the area and is not intended as an essential reference work. ACS Without an Attitude is intended for programmers and testers new to the field who are seeking a commonsense understanding of the subject matter they are coding and testing in the hope that they will reduce their risk of introducing or missing the key software bug that causes an abrupt termination in their spacecraft’s mission. In addition, the book will provide managers and others working with spacecraft with a basic understanding of this subject.

ACS Without an Attitude

Walt Truszkowski

Diana F. Gordon-Spears

Michael Hinchey

James Rash

The field of agent & multi-agent systems is experiencing tremendous growth whilst that of formal methods has also blossomed. The FAABS (Formal Approaches to Agent-Based Systems) workshops, merging the concerns of the two fields, were thus timely. This book has arisen from the overwhelming response to FAABS '00, '02 & '04 and all chapters are updated or represent new research, & are designed to provide a more in-depth treatment of the topic. Examples of how others have applied formal methods to agent-based systems are included, plus formal method tools & techniques that readers can apply to their own systems. Agent Technology from a Formal Perspective provides an in-depth view of the key issues related to agent technology from a formal perspective. As this is a relatively new interdisciplinary field, there is enormous room for further growth and this book not only creates an initial foundation, but points to the gaps; indicating open problems to be addressed by future researchers, students & practitioners.

Agent Technology from a Formal Perspective

Christopher Rouff

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