Verifying Resource Requirements for Ontology-Driven Rule-Based Agents

Recent efforts towards the Semantic Web have resulted in powerful languages such as Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) based on OWL-DL and RuleML. Rule languages and inference engines incorporate reasoning capabilities to Semantic Web application systems. In this paper we present an approach for the design and specification of ontology-driven multi-agent rule-based systems. We use the Maude rewriting system and its Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) model checking tool to verify response time guarantees for the target systems. We present TOVRBA, an extended version of a verification tool developed by the first author, for ontology-driven multi-agent rule-based systems which allows the designer to specify information about agents’ interactions, behavior, and execution strategies at different levels of abstraction. TOVRBA generates an encoding of the system for the Maude LTL model checker, allowing properties of the system to be verified. We illustrate the use of the framework on a simple healthcare system.