Integrated Multi-Agent Coordination

2010 ◽  
pp. 41-63
Author(s):  
Wei Chen ◽  
Keith S. Decker
Keyword(s):  
System Level ◽  
Multi Agent Systems ◽  
Coordination Problem ◽  
Planning And Scheduling ◽  
Planning Approach ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Task Networks ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Agent Coordination ◽  
Task Structures

Planning and scheduling have been a key topic in both Operations Research and Multi-Agent Systems. Most approaches are concentrated at an abstract system level on developing interaction protocols to be imposed on agents. There has been less concern about how the internal task structures of individual agents affect these higher-level coordination behaviors. Collaborative multi-agent planning addresses problems like uncertainty in plan outcomes, anticipating likely contingencies, and evaluating how agent actions achieve worth-oriented goals. This article presents extensions and restrictions, called extended hierarchical task networks (EHTN), to the traditional plan and schedule representations that allow the formal definition of an integrated multi-agent coordination problem. This chapter discusses open issues in multi-agent coordination (e.g. what to coordinate among agents, how much information to be exchanged, how to evaluate a planning approach) and proposes a general solution towards successful distributed goal achievement by analyzing the task structures of participating agents.

scholarly journals Design of Complex Engineered Systems Using Multi-Agent Coordination

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolás F. Soria Zurita ◽  
Mitchell K. Colby ◽  
Irem Y. Tumer ◽  
Christopher Hoyle ◽  
Kagan Tumer
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Agents ◽  
System Level ◽  
Coordination Problem ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Formula Sae ◽  
Complex Engineered Systems ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Potential System ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Agent Coordination

In complex engineering systems, complexity may arise by design, or as a by-product of the system's operation. In either case, the cause of complexity is the same: the unpredictable manner in which interactions among components modify system behavior. Traditionally, two different approaches are used to handle such complexity: (i) a centralized design approach where the impacts of all potential system states and behaviors resulting from design decisions must be accurately modeled and (ii) an approach based on externally legislating design decisions, which avoid such difficulties, but at the cost of expensive external mechanisms to determine trade-offs among competing design decisions. Our approach is a hybrid of the two approaches, providing a method in which decisions can be reconciled without the need for either detailed interaction models or external mechanisms. A key insight of this approach is that complex system design, undertaken with respect to a variety of design objectives, is fundamentally similar to the multi-agent coordination problem, where component decisions and their interactions lead to global behavior. The results of this paper demonstrate that a team of autonomous agents using a cooperative coevolutionary algorithm (CCEA) can effectively design a complex engineered system. This paper uses a system model of a Formula SAE racing vehicle to illustrate and simulate the methods and potential results. By designing complex systems with a multi-agent coordination approach, a design methodology can be developed to reduce design uncertainty and provide mechanisms through which the system level impact of decisions can be estimated without explicitly modeling such interactions.

scholarly journals PROBLEMS OF AXIOM APPLICATION OF AGENTS BELONGING TO MULTIPLE MULTIAGENT SYSTEMS IN RESEARCH OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONALTECHNICAL SYSTEMS FUNCTIONING

2018 ◽  
pp. 56-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Yu Babich
Keyword(s):  
Sufficient Conditions ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
System Level ◽  
General Criterion ◽  
Multi Agent Systems ◽  
Rational Agents ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient ◽  
Soft Management

The problems of functioning of organizational and organizational‑technical systems, which are proposed to be supposed as multi‑agent systems, are considered. One of the important subsystems is a control subsystem that performs soft management of rational agents that are locates simultaneously in the contour of several systems with different performance objectives. This property of agents is described by the presented axioms. Three levels of studied objects are distinguished: the level of the agent, the level of systems and the level of supersystems. The necessary and sufficient conditions under which the agent’s systems can exert significant influence on each other are analyzed. At the agent level, decision makers are considered, that is, agents belonging to the management subsystem that function in the real and virtual systems. It is shown that the goals of the virtual and real systems may not coincide. For the system level, statements are made about the use of system resources in the process of agent’s functioning, the definition of acceptable algorithms for achieving the goal is formulated and their properties, in which achieved two non‑coinciding goals are analyzed. The general algorithm of agent’s activity in relation to the system and the system in relation to agents is given. The criterion of the possible achievement of the goal for systems is given. At the level of supersystems, statements are given that are consequences of the assertions given at the system level, as well as a general criterion for achieving the goal for supersystems.

Society of Agents

2020 ◽  
pp. 160-183
Author(s):  
Steven Walczak
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Multi Agent Systems ◽  
New Classification ◽  
Conceptual Foundation ◽  
Agent Systems ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Coordination And Collaboration ◽  
Agent Coordination ◽  
New Framework

The development of multiple agent systems faces many challenges, including agent coordination and collaboration on tasks. Minsky's The Society of Mind provides a conceptual view for addressing these multi-agent system problems. A new classification ontology is introduced for comparing multi-agent systems. Next, a new framework called the Society of Agents is developed from Minsky's conceptual foundation. A Society of Agents framework-based problem-solving and a Game Society is developed and applied to the domain of single player logic puzzles and two player games. The Game Society solved 100% of presented Sudoku and Kakuro problems and never lost a tic-tac-toe game. The advantage of the Society of Agents approach is the efficient re-utilization of agents across multiple independent game domain problems and a centralized problem-solving architecture with efficient cross-agent information sharing.

Hierarchical Design Method for Multi-Agent Systems

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-134
Author(s):  
Bouneb Messaouda ◽  
Saïdouni Djamel Eddine
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Transition System ◽  
Hierarchical Design ◽  
Multi Agent Systems ◽  
Agent Systems ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Labeled Transition System ◽  
System Assessment ◽  
Definition Of

This paper proposes a new hierarchical design method for the specification and the verification of multi agent systems (MAS). For this purpose, the authors propose the model of Refinable Recursive Petri Nets (RRPN) under a maximality semantics. In this model, a notion of undefined transitions is considered. The underlying semantics model is the Abstract Maximality-based Labeled Transition System (AMLTS). Hence, the model supports a definition of a hierarchical design methodology. The example of goods transportation is used for illustrating the approach. For the system assessment, the properties are expressed in CTL logic and verified using the verification environment FOCOVE (Formal Concurrency Verification Environment).

scholarly journals ORGANISATIONAL RULES AS AN ABSTRACTION FOR THE ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS

2001 ◽  
Vol 11 (03) ◽  
pp. 303-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANCO ZAMBONELLI ◽  
NICHOLAS R. JENNINGS ◽  
MICHAEL WOOLDRIDGE
Keyword(s):  
Role Models ◽  
Organisational Structure ◽  
Multi Agent Systems ◽  
Analysis And Design ◽  
Agent Systems ◽  
Full Picture ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Organisational Structures ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Complete Specification

Multi-agent systems can very naturally be viewed as computational organisations. For this reason, we believe organisational abstractions offer a promising set of metaphors and models that can be exploited in the analysis and design of such systems. To this end, the concept of role models is increasingly being used to specify and design multi-agent systems. However, this is not the full picture. In this paper we introduce three additional organisational concepts — organisational rules, organisational structures, and organisational patterns — and discuss why we believe they are necessary for the complete specification of computational organisations. In particular, we focus on the concept of organisational rules and introduce a formalism, based on temporal logic, to specify them. This formalism is then used to drive the definition of the organisational structure and the identification of the organisational patterns. Finally, the paper sketches some guidelines for a methodology for agent-oriented systems based on our expanded set of organisational abstractions.

scholarly journals Definition of a Framework for Acquiring and Acquisition Subprocesses in a Collective Knowledge Processing in the Integrated Management Information System

2019 ◽  
Vol 06 (03) ◽  
pp. 257-272
Author(s):  
Marcin Hernes ◽  
Ngoc Thanh Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Business Organization ◽  
Business Organizations ◽  
Multi Agent Systems ◽  
Collective Knowledge ◽  
Management Information ◽  
Efficient Operation ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Definition Of

Efficient operation of the integrated management information systems (IMISs), especially multi-agent systems, is related to their ability to automatically process collective knowledge. On the basis of this knowledge the decision-making process is realized in the business organizations. This paper presents issues related to framework for acquiring and acquisition subprocesses in a collective knowledge of business organization processing in IMIS. The main novelty of the developed framework is the coverage of all the areas of operation of an organization. Additionally, the inter-area knowledge for automatic strategic-level decision-making has been taken into consideration. The main improvements of this framework are that it allows for processing of the whole collective knowledge of business organization and it can be directly implemented in IMIS.

scholarly journals Self-organization in multi-agent systems

2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
GIOVANNA DI MARZO SERUGENDO ◽  
MARIE-PIERRE GLEIZES ◽  
ANTHONY KARAGEORGOS
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Multi Agent Systems ◽  
Joint Work ◽  
Reference Case ◽  
Agent Systems ◽  
Common Definition ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Definition Of

This paper is the synthesis of joint work realised in a technical forum group within the AgentLink III NoE framework, which elaborated on issues concerning self-organization and emergence in multi-agent systems (MAS). The work concluded on a common definition of the concepts of self-organization and emergence in MAS and the associated properties and characteristics. Also it developed towards an approach for selecting self-organization mechanisms using a number of selected reference case studies and a set of evaluation criteria.

scholarly journals Research on the coordination mechanism of major industrial project engineering and construction multi-agents based on structural holes theory

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0255858
Author(s):  
Xiaokang Han ◽  
Wenzhou Yan ◽  
Mei Lu
Keyword(s):  
Complex Network ◽  
Coordination Mechanism ◽  
Coordination Problem ◽  
Structural Holes ◽  
Network Diagram ◽  
Pmc Model ◽  
3D Network ◽  
Industrial Projects ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Agent Coordination

Industry is an important pillar of the national economy. Industrial projects are the most complex and difficult projects to control in the construction industry, and major industrial projects are even more complex and difficult to control. Multi-agent coordination is one of the core issues of industrial projects. Based on an analysis of the engineering and construction chains and agent relationships and agent networks of industrial projects, a complex network of the engineering and construction agents of industrial projects is established, and the complex network structural holes theory is applied to study the nonrepeated relationships among agents in industrial projects. Assuming agents are linked through contract relations and the most critical contract index between the agents in the contract amount, through structural hole analysis considering the EPC and PMC model, the aggregate constraint list is obtained, 2D network diagram and 3D network diagram are shown. According to the aggregate constraint value, the EPC contractor with the minimum aggregate constraint value and the project management company with the minimum aggregate constraint value are the critical agent in EPC and PMC model. By analyzing the complex network comprising different models of industrial projects, it is concluded that the characteristics of the agent maintain an advantage in competition, the coordination mechanism of the integration of agent interests, and multi-agent relations are considered to solve the multi-agent coordination problem in major industrial projects.

Society of Agents

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Walczak
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Multi Agent Systems ◽  
New Classification ◽  
Conceptual Foundation ◽  
Agent Systems ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Coordination And Collaboration ◽  
Agent Coordination ◽  
New Framework ◽  
Society Of Mind

The development of multiple agent systems faces many challenges, including agent coordination and collaboration on tasks. Minsky's The Society of Mind provides a conceptual view for addressing these multi-agent system problems. A new classification ontology is introduced for comparing multi-agent systems. Next, a new framework called the Society of Agents is developed from Minsky's conceptual foundation. A Society of Agents framework-based problem-solving and a Game Society is developed and applied to the domain of single player logic puzzles and two player games. The Game Society solved 100% of presented Sudoku and Kakuro problems and never lost a tic-tac-toe game. The advantage of the Society of Agents approach is the efficient re-utilization of agents across multiple independent game domain problems and a centralized problem-solving architecture with efficient cross-agent information sharing.

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