No Arabic abstract
Consensus strategies find a variety of applications in distributed coordination and decision making in multi-agent systems. In particular, average consensus plays a key role in a number of applications and is closely associated with two classes of digraphs, weight-balanced (for continuous-time systems) and bistochastic (for discrete-time systems). A weighted digraph is called balanced if, for each node, the sum of the weights of the edges outgoing from that node is equal to the sum of the weights of the edges incoming to that node. In addition, a weight-balanced digraph is bistochastic if all weights are nonnegative and, for each node, the sum of weights of edges incoming to that node and the sum of the weights of edges out-going from that node is unity; this implies that the corresponding weight matrix is column and row stochastic (i.e., doubly stochastic). We propose two distributed algorithms: one solves the weight-balance problem and the other solves the bistochastic matrix formation problem for a distributed system whose components (nodes) can exchange information via interconnection links (edges) that form an arbitrary, possibly directed, strongly connected communication topology (digraph). Both distributed algorithms achieve their goals asymptotically and operate iteratively by having each node adapt the (nonnegative) weights on its outgoing edges based on the weights of its incoming links (i.e., based on purely local information). We also provide examples to illustrate the operation, performance, and potential advantages of the proposed algorithms.
We present Distributed Simplex Architecture (DSA), a new runtime assurance technique that provides safety guarantees for multi-agent systems (MASs). DSA is inspired by the Simplex control architecture of Sha et al., but with some significant differences. The traditional Simplex approach is limited to single-agent systems or a MAS with a centralized control scheme. DSA addresses this limitation by extending the scope of Simplex to include MASs under distributed control. In DSA, each agent has a local instance of traditional Simplex such that the preservation of safety in the local instances implies safety for the entire MAS. We provide a proof of safety for DSA, and present experimental results for several case studies, including flocking with collision avoidance, safe navigation of ground rovers through way-points, and the safe operation of a microgrid.
In future intelligent transportation systems, networked vehicles coordinate with each other to achieve safe operations based on an assumption that communications among vehicles and infrastructure are reliable. Traditional methods usually deal with the design of control systems and communication networks in a separated manner. However, control and communication systems are tightly coupled as the motions of vehicles will affect the overall communication quality. Hence, we are motivated to study the co-design of both control and communication systems. In particular, we propose a control theoretical framework for distributed motion planning for multi-agent systems which satisfies complex and high-level spatial and temporal specifications while accounting for communication quality at the same time. Towards this end, desired motion specifications and communication performances are formulated as signal temporal logic (STL) and spatial-temporal logic (SpaTeL) formulas, respectively. The specifications are encoded as constraints on system and environment state variables of mixed integer linear programs (MILP), and upon which control strategies satisfying both STL and SpaTeL specifications are generated for each agent by employing a distributed model predictive control (MPC) framework. Effectiveness of the proposed framework is validated by a simulation of distributed communication-aware motion planning for multi-agent systems.
A Multi-Agent System is a distributed system where the agents or nodes perform complex functions that cannot be written down in analytic form. Multi-Agent Systems are highly connected, and the information they contain is mostly stored in the connections. When agents update their state, they take into account the state of the other agents, and they have access to those states via the connections. There is also external, user-generated input into the Multi-Agent System. As so much information is stored in the connections, agents are often memory-less. This memory-less property, together with the randomness of the external input, has allowed us to model Multi-Agent Systems using Markov chains. In this paper, we look at Multi-Agent Systems that evolve, i.e. the number of agents varies according to the fitness of the individual agents. We extend our Markov chain model, and define stability. This is the start of a methodology to control Multi-Agent Systems. We then build upon this to construct an entropy-based definition for the degree of instability (entropy of the limit probabilities), which we used to perform a stability analysis. We then investigated the stability of evolving agent populations through simulation, and show that the results are consistent with the original definition of stability in non-evolving Multi-Agent Systems, proposed by Chli and De Wilde. This paper forms the theoretical basis for the construction of Digital Business Ecosystems, and applications have been reported elsewhere.
In task allocation for real-time domains, such as disaster response, a limited number of agents is deployed across a large area to carry out numerous tasks, each with its prerequisites, profit, time window and workload. To maximize profits while minimizing time penalties, agents need to cooperate by forming, disbanding and reforming coalitions. In this paper, we name this problem Multi-Agent Routing and Scheduling through Coalition formation (MARSC) and show that it generalizes the important Team Orienteering Problem with Time Windows. We propose a binary integer program and an anytime and scalable heuristic to solve it. Using public London Fire Brigade records, we create a dataset with 347588 tasks and a test framework that simulates the mobilization of firefighters. In problems with up to 150 agents and 3000 tasks, our heuristic finds solutions up to 3.25 times better than the Earliest Deadline First approach commonly used in real-time systems. Our results constitute the first large-scale benchmark for the MARSC problem.
We consider the problem of detecting norm violations in open multi-agent systems (MAS). We show how, using ideas from scrip systems, we can design mechanisms where the agents comprising the MAS are incentivised to monitor the actions of other agents for norm violations. The cost of providing the incentives is not borne by the MAS and does not come from fines charged for norm violations (fines may be impossible to levy in a system where agents are free to leave and rejoin again under a different identity). Instead, monitoring incentives come from (scrip) fees for accessing the services provided by the MAS. In some cases, perfect monitoring (and hence enforcement) can be achieved: no norms will be violated in equilibrium. In other cases, we show that, while it is impossible to achieve perfect enforcement, we can get arbitrarily close; we can make the probability of a norm violation in equilibrium arbitrarily small. We show using simulations that our theoretical results hold for multi-agent systems with as few as 1000 agents---the system rapidly converges to the steady-state distribution of scrip tokens necessary to ensure monitoring and then remains close to the steady state.