A framework for modelling tactical decision-making in autonomous systems

•TDF tactics design methodology extends state of the art in AOSE.•Offers better comprehension of tactics designs than UML.•TDF is suited to autonomous tactical decision-making systems.•TDF mixes reactivity and proactivity at the highest level of the design. There is an increasing need for autonomous...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of systems and software Vol. 110; pp. 222 - 238
Main Authors Evertsz, Rick, Thangarajah, John, Yadav, Nitin, Ly, Thanh
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Elsevier Inc 01.12.2015
Elsevier Sequoia S.A
Subjects
Behaviour modelling
Decision making
Decision support systems
Multi-agent systems
Programming languages
Software engineering
Studies
Systems design
Tactics modelling
Behaviour modelling
Tactics modelling
Multi-agent systems
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Summary:•TDF tactics design methodology extends state of the art in AOSE.•Offers better comprehension of tactics designs than UML.•TDF is suited to autonomous tactical decision-making systems.•TDF mixes reactivity and proactivity at the highest level of the design. There is an increasing need for autonomous systems that exhibit effective decision-making in unpredictable environments. However, the design of autonomous decision-making systems presents considerable challenges, particularly when they have to achieve their goals within a dynamic context. Tactics designed to handle unexpected environmental change, or attack by an adversary, must balance the need for reactivity with that of remaining focused on the system’s overall goal. The lack of a design methodology and supporting tools for representing tactics makes them difficult to understand, maintain and reuse. This is a significant problem in the design of tactical decision-making systems. We describe a methodology and accompanying tool, TDF (Tactics Development Framework), based on the BDI (Beliefs, Desires, Intentions) paradigm. TDF supports structural modelling of missions, goals, scenarios, input/output, messaging and procedures, and generates skeleton code that reflects the overall design. TDF has been evaluated through comparison with UML, indicating that it provides significant benefits to those building autonomous, tactical decision-making systems.
ISSN:0164-1212
1873-1228
DOI:10.1016/j.jss.2015.08.046