On Using Agent-based Modeling and Simulation for Studying Blockchain Systems

There is a need for a simulation framework, which is develop as a software using modern engineering approaches (e.g., modularity --i.e., model reuse--, testing, continuous development and continuous integration, automated management of builds, dependencies and documentation) and agile principles, (1) to make rapid prototyping of industrial cases and (2) to carry out their feasibility analysis in a realistic manner (i.e., to test hypothesis by simulating complex experiments involving large numbers of participants of different types acting in one or several blockchain systems).

Multi-Agent eXperimenter (MAX)

We present a novel multi-agent simulator named Multi-Agent eXperimenter (MAX) that is designed to simulate blockchain experiments involving large numbers of agents of different types acting in one or several environments. The architecture of MAX is highly modular, enabling easy addition of new models.

Towards Secure and Trusted-by-Design Smart Contracts

Distributed immutable ledgers, or blockchains, allow the secure digitization of evidential transactions without relying on a trusted third-party. Evidential transactions involve the exchange of any form of physical evidence, such as money, birth certificate, visas, tickets, etc. Most of the time, evidential transactions occur in the context of complex procedures, called evidential protocols, among physical agents. The blockchain provides the mechanisms to transfer evidence, while smart contracts - programs executing within the blockchain in a decentralized and replicated fashion - allow encoding evidential protocols on top of a blockchain. As a smart contract foregoes trusted third-parties and runs on several machines anonymously, it constitutes a highly critical program that has to be secure and trusted-by-design. While most of the current smart contract languages focus on easy programmability, they do not directly address the need of guaranteeing trust and accountability, which becomes a significant issue when evidential protocols are encoded as smart contracts.

Multi-Agent Optimization for Safety Analysis of Cyber-Physical Systems: Position Paper

Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) is one of the safety analysis methods recommended by most of the international standards. The classical FMECA is made in a form of a table filled in either manually or by using safety analysis tools. In both cases, the design engineers have to choose the trade-offs between safety and other development constraints. In the case of complex cyber-physical systems (CPS) with thousands of specified constraints, this may lead to severe problems and significantly impact the overall criticality of CPS. In this paper, we propose to adopt optimization techniques to automate the decision making process conducted after FMECA of CPS. We describe a multi-agent based optimization method which extends classical FMECA for offering optimal solutions in terms of criticality and development constraints of CPS.

Agent-based Exploration of Wirings of Biological Neural Networks: Position Paper

The understanding of human central nervous system depends on knowledge of its wiring. However, there are still gaps in our understanding of its wiring due to technical difficulties. While some information is coming out from human experiments, medical research is lacking of simulation models to put current findings together to obtain the global picture and to predict hypotheses to lead future experiments. Agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) is a strong candidate for the simulation model. In this position paper, we discuss the current status of "neural wiring" and "ABMS in biological systems". In particular, we discuss that the ABMS context provides features required for exploration of biological neural wiring.

Towards a Self-Organized Agent-Based Simulation Model for Exploration of Human Synaptic Connections

In this paper, the early design of our self-organized agent-based simulation model for exploration of synaptic connections that faithfully generates what is observed in natural situation is given. While we take inspiration from neuroscience, our intent is not to create a veridical model of processes in neurodevelopmental biology, nor to represent a real biological system. Instead, our goal is to design a simulation model that learns acting in the same way of human nervous system by using findings on human subjects using reflex methodologies in order to estimate unknown connections.