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interacting entities that populate this infrastructure (e.g. residential location,
pedestrian movement, tra
2
c simulation).
The main aim of this paper is to present a modelling approach that is based on
the notion of Multilayered Multi Agent Situated System (MMASS). The MMASS
offers a formal and computational framework where to describe, represent and
simulate complexsystems which explicitly require spatial features to be consid-
ered and integrates different forms of interaction. The MMASS can be seen as a
generalization of CA since it relaxes constraints on uniformity, locality and clo-
sure. The MMASS model defines a system of agents situated in an environment
that is not homogeneous neither in its properties nor in its structure (as a conse-
quence, neighborhoods are not uniform across the space). The MAS is composed
by heterogeneous agents that is, different agent types can be defined. Moreover
different forms of interaction are possible within a MMASS: synchronous re-
action between spatially adjacent agents and asynchronous and at-a-distance
interaction through a field emission-propagation-perception mechanism. Fields
are emitted by agents according to their type and state, and propagate through-
out the spatial structure of the environment according to their diffusion function,
reaching and being eventually perceived by other spatially distant agents. In fact,
different sensitivity to fields, capabilities and behaviors characterize agents of dif-
ferent types. Finally, the MMASS can model open systems by being influenced
by external fields.
The MMASS approach has been applied in the MABS domain to the sim-
ulation of localization problem and for the design of a technology promoting
awareness in the Computer Supported Cooperative Work domain. A brief de-
scription of these example applications of the MMASS model is reported in
Section 4 and more details can be found in [15] and [16].
2 The Multilayered Multi Agent Situated System
A
Multilayered Multi Agent Situated System (MMASS)
can be defined as a con-
stellation of interacting
Situated MAS
's (MASS) through the primitive:
Construct
(
MASS
1
...MASS
n
)
Thus, a MMASS is defined by the set of its constituting
Situated MAS
's
(
{MASS
1
...MASS
n
}
). Each MASS of a Multilayered MASS is defined by the
triple
< Space,F,A >
where
Space
models the environment where the set
A
of agents is situated,
acts autonomously and interacts via the propagation of the set
F
of fields. Thus
a MMASS can be also denoted by:
< Space
1
,F
1
,A
1
> ... < Space
n
,F
n
,A
n
>
where,
