Publication - Analysis of Negotiation Protocols by Distributed Search

Authors: Wang, Guandong; Zhang, Weixiong; Mailler, Roger; and Lesser, Victor
Title: Analysis of Negotiation Protocols by Distributed Search
Abstract: Negotiation is one of the main mechanisms for coordination and cooperation in multiagent systems. However, most negotiation protocols are complex and their features are difficult to characterize. In this paper, we propose a general experimental approach to analyzing negotiation strategies using distributed search. In this approach we first formulate the problems that negotiation protocols intend to solve as distributed constraint satisfaction/optimization problems, and then capture the negotiation protocols as distributed search algorithms. By analyzing the derived search algorithms, we can characterize many important properties of the negotiation protocols. In this paper, we are particularly interested in the properties of a newly developed negotiation protocol, which is motivated by distributed sensor network applications, including its completeness, complexity, convergence rate, and scalability. Although the idea of viewing negotiation as distributed search is not completely new, in this research we not only view negotiation as distributed search, but directly apply a search algorithm to reveal the essential features of a negotiation protocol and analyze its performance.
Keywords: Cooperative Negotiation, Distributed AI, Distributed Search, Negotiation, Search
Publication: Distributed Sensor Networks: A multiagent perspective, pp. 339 - 361
Editor: Lesser, Victor; Ortiz, Charles; and Tambe, Milind
Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
Date: 2003
Sources: PDF: /Documents/mailler/dsearch.pdf
Reference: Wang, Guandong; Zhang, Weixiong; Mailler, Roger; and Lesser, Victor. Analysis of Negotiation Protocols by Distributed Search. Distributed Sensor Networks: A multiagent perspective, Lesser, Victor; Ortiz, Charles; and Tambe, Milind, ed., Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 339-361. 2003.
bibtex: 
@inbook{Wang-249,
  author    = "Guandong Wang and Weixiong Zhang and Roger Mailler
               and Victor Lesser",
  title     = "{Analysis of Negotiation Protocols by Distributed
               Search}",
  editor    = "Victor Lesser and Charles Ortiz and Milind Tambe",
  publisher = "Kluwer Academic Publishers",
  pages     = "339-361",
  year      = "2003",
  url       = "http://mas.cs.umass.edu/paper/249",
}