Publication - Agent-mediated Multi-step Optimization for Resource Allocation in Distributed Sensor Networks

Authors: An, Bo; Lesser, Victor; Westbrook, David; Zink, Michael
Title: Agent-mediated Multi-step Optimization for Resource Allocation in Distributed Sensor Networks
Abstract: Distributed collaborative adaptive sensing (DCAS) of the atmosphere is a new paradigm for detecting and predicting hazardous weather using a large dense network of short-range, low-powered radars to sense the lowest few kilometers of the earths atmosphere. In DCAS, radars are controlled by a collection of Meteorological Command and Control (MC&C) agents that instruct where to scan based on emerging weather conditions. Within this context, this work concentrates on designing efficient approaches for allocating sensing resources to cope with restricted real-time requirements and limited computational resources. We have developed a new approach based on explicit goals that can span multiple system heartbeats. This allows us to reason ahead about sensor allocations based on expected requirements of goals as they project forward in time. Each goal explicitly specifies end-users’ preferences as well as a prediction of how a phenomena will move. We use a genetic algorithm to generate scanning strategies of each single MC&C and a distributed negotiation model to coordinate multiple MC&Cs’ scanning strategies over multiple heartbeats. Simulation results show that as compared to simpler variants of our approach, the proposed distributed model achieved the highest social welfare. Our approach also has exhibited similarly very good performance in an operational radar testbed that is deployed in Oklahoma to observe severe weather events.
Keywords: Coordination, Distributed AI, Multi-Agent Systems, Negotiation
Publication: Proc. of 10th Int. Conf. on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems - Innovative Applications Track (AAMAS 2011), Vol: 2, pp. 609 - 616
Editor: Tumer, Yolum, Sonenberg and Stone
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Publisher: IFAAMAS
Date: 2011
Sources: PDF: /Documents/bo_an_AAMAS11.pdf
Reference: An, Bo; Lesser, Victor; Westbrook, David; Zink, Michael. Agent-mediated Multi-step Optimization for Resource Allocation in Distributed Sensor Networks. Proc. of 10th Int. Conf. on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems - Innovative Applications Track (AAMAS 2011), Volume 2, Tumer, Yolum, Sonenberg and Stone, ed., IFAAMAS, pp. 609-616. 2011.
bibtex: 
@inproceedings{An-494,
  author    = "Bo An and Victor Lesser and David Westbrook and
               Michael Zink",
  title     = "{Agent-mediated Multi-step Optimization for
               Resource Allocation in Distributed Sensor Networks}",
  booktitle = "Proc. of 10th Int. Conf. on Autonomous Agents and
               Multiagent Systems - Innovative Applications Track
               (AAMAS 2011)",
  volume    = "2",
  editor    = "Yolum Tumer and Stone Sonenberg",
  publisher = "IFAAMAS",
  pages     = "609-616",
  year      = "2011",
  address   = "Taipei, Taiwan",
  url       = "http://mas.cs.umass.edu/paper/494",
}