Rapid prototyping of cognitive agent simulations using C-BML transformations


Topcu O., Yilmaz L.

JOURNAL OF DEFENSE MODELING AND SIMULATION-APPLICATIONS METHODOLOGY TECHNOLOGY-JDMS, vol.17, no.2, pp.155-173, 2020 (ESCI, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 17 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2020
  • Doi Number: 10.1177/1548512919860222
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF DEFENSE MODELING AND SIMULATION-APPLICATIONS METHODOLOGY TECHNOLOGY-JDMS
  • Journal Indexes: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, PASCAL, Compendex
  • Page Numbers: pp.155-173
  • Keywords: Agent-based simulation, model-driven engineering, domain-specific languages, C-BML, deliberative coherence, MODEL-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
  • Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Simulating battle management is an essential technique used in planning and mission rehearsal as well as training. Simulation development costs tend to be high due to the complexity of cognitive system architectures in such applications. Due to this complexity, it takes significant effort for a simulation developer to comprehend the problem domain enough to capture accurately in a simulation code. Domain-specific languages (DSL) play an important role in narrowing the communication gap between the domain user and the developer and hence facilitate rapid development. In command and control (C2) applications, the coalition battle management language (C-BML) serves as a DSL for exchanging battle information among C2 systems, simulations, and autonomous elements. In this article, we use a rapid prototyping framework for cognitive agents and demonstrate deployment of agent systems by adopting the model driven engineering approach. To this end, we extend the use of C-BML and automatically transform it in a cognitive agent model, which is then used for adaptive decision making at runtime. As a result, during a simulation run, it is possible to initialize and modify an agent's goal reasoning model. The cognitive agent models are based on the deliberative coherence theory, which provides a goal reasoning system in terms of coherence-driven agents.