Formal specification and validation of multi-agent behaviour using TLA+ and TLC model checker

Abstract

This work views agent coordination from a purely behavioural viewpoint. We use the Temporal Logic of Actions (TLA) to formally specify the behaviour of individual agents as well as the behaviour of a coalition of agents by composing the behaviour of individual agents. We view a coalition of agents as being initiated by an agent wishing to delegate some of its tasks to others. We do not discuss the issues related to coalition formation here but rather focus on how agent coordination can be achieved through behaviour composition. We have built a generic and rigorous approach to formally specify such behaviour composition from the behaviour of individual agents. To validate our approach, we have successfully applied it to the blocks world and model checked the specifications using TLC - the TLA model checker.