Formal Specification of Holonic Multi-Agent Systems: Application to Distributed Maintenance Company

Abstract

In complex systems, multiple aspects interact and influence each other. A vast number of entities are present in the system. Traditional modeling and simulation techniques fail to capture interactions between loosely coupled aspects of a complex distributed system. The objective of this work is to extend a Holonic methodology by using a formal specification language based on two formalisms: Generalized Stochastic Petri Net (GSPN) and Z language. Such a specification style facilitates the modeling of organizations and the interactions between them with both reactive and functional aspects. We illustrate the suitability of our generic approach by applying it to a Distributed Industrial Maintenance Company.