Modelling Mobility and Mobile Agents using Nets within Nets

Abstract

Mobility creates a new challenge for dynamic systems in all phases of the life cycle, like modelling, execution, and verification. In this work we present an application area of the paradigm "nets within nets". Nets within nets are well suited to express the dynamics of open, mobile systems. The advantages of Petri nets - intuitive graphical representation and formal semantics - are retained and supplemented with a uniform way to model mobility and mobile (agent) systems. First the modelling of mobility is introduced in general, the results are carried forward to model mobility in the area of agent systems. The practicality of the approach is shown in a second step by modelling a small case study implementing a household robot system.