How to Concretize Norms in NMAS? An Operational Normative Approach Presented with a Case Study from the Television Domain

Contents

A major challenge in the research of multiagent systems (MAS) is the design and implementation of open MAS in which norms can be effectively applied to their entities and easily managed. Open MAS can be extremely dynamic due to heterogeneous agents that migrate among those systems in order to obtain resources or services not found locally. In this scenario, it is not reasonable to expect that foreign agents will know in advance all the norms of the MAS in which they will execute. Thus, we present in this paper our information module (named DynaCROM) that makes application agents aware of the norms they are bound to in a given moment. For this, the system developer should follow the defined DynaCROM methodology (also presented in the paper) to concretize norms in his MAS. Notwithstanding that a regulated system should have its norms enforced, an integration of DynaCROM with a mechanism for norm enforcement (named SCAAR) is also presented. A case study from the television domain illustrates the proposal.