A Normative Model for Holonic Multi-agent Systems

Modeling and design of complex intelligent systems (Intelligent transportation systems, shared health information systems, resource sharing systems, Smart city management systems, etc.) is a very difficult task due to the lack of design processes capable of covering all the characteristics of these types of systems: systems that require both a hierarchical structure which allows to bring together different levels of abstraction within the same system and require the maintenance of regulation and social control of the various entities involved in these systems by using a set of norms. Holonic Multiagent System (HMAS) forms a promising approach to software engineering for the modeling and development of hierarchical complex systems. One of the main challenges currently faced in HMAS research is that of social control. In particular, how can the HMAS be configured and organised given their structure of control and regulation? One of the main solutions is to employ the use of norms. Therefore, norms have been proposed as a mechanism for coordinating and controlling of various entities behaviors involved in the system. In this paper, we propose a new model of norms adapted to the holonic structure of HMAS. To do this, (1) we introduce two new types of norms: internal (private) and external (public) norms; (2) we identify and verify the alignment between these two types of norms. These two types of norms have implications for the control, organization and structure of holons.