Coordination in Distributed Problem-Solving Networks.

摘要

The Distributed Vehicle Monitoring Testbed (DVMT) has been significantly modified to make it a suitable vehicle for studying issues in real-time coordination among agents and more complex protocols for sharing information among agents. A prototype implementation of a multistage negotiation protocol for use in distributed resource allocation has been completed. The Partial Global Planning (PGP) coordination framework has been extended to include task allocation via contracting, and progress has been made in the design of a generic version of this protocol. Additionally, a new framework for building cooperating experts has been proposed based on negotiation as an integral part of the problem-solving framework. A major part of the group effort over the last 6 months (contract started 4/15/89) has involved significantly extending and modifying the Distributed Vehicle Monitoring Testbed (DVMT). The purpose of this effort has been to make the testbed a more realistic model for studying distributed problem solving coordination issues.