Issues in Multiagent Resource Allocation

The allocation of resources within a system of autonomous agents, that not only have preferences over alternative allocations of resources but also actively participate in computing an allocation, is an exciting area of research at the interface of Computer Science and Economics. This paper is a survey of some of the most salient issues in Multiagent Resource Allocation. In particular, we review various languages to represent the preferences of agents over alternative allocations of resources as well as different measures of social welfare to assess the overall quality of an allocation. We also discuss pertinent issues regarding allocation procedures and present important complexity results. Our presentation of theoretical issues is complemented by a discussion of software packages for the simulation of agent-based market places. We also introduce four major application areas for Multiagent Resource Allocation, namely industrial procurement, sharing of satellite resources, manufacturing control, and grid computing.

keywords   resource allocation, negotiation, preferences, social welfare, complexity, simulation

origin event

 Special Issue “Hot Topics in European Agent Research II”

 AL3-TF2

journal or series

 Informatica (Informatica)

container publication

 Special Issue “Hot Topics in European Agent Research II” (special issue, 2006) — Andrea Omicini, Paolo Petta, Matjaz Gams

companion publication

 The Second AgentLink III Technical Forum: Main Issues and Hot Topics in European Agent Research – Part 2 (editorial/introduction/preface, 2006) — Andrea Omicini, Paolo Petta, Matjaz Gams

 A Survey of Programming Languages and Platforms for Multi-Agent Systems (article in journal, 2006) — Rafael H. Bordini, Lars Braubach, Mehdi Dastani, Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni, Jorge J. Gómez-Sanz, João Leite, Gregory O’Hare, Alexander Pokahr, Alessandro Ricci

 Self-Organisation and Emergence in MAS: An Overview (article in journal, 2006) — Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo, Marie-Pierre Gleizes, Anthony Karageorgos

 Bio-inspired Mechanisms for Artificial Self-organised Systems (article in journal, 2006) — Jean-Pierre Mano, Christine Bourjot, Gabriel Lopardo, Pierre Glize

 On Self-Organising Mechanisms from Social, Business and Economic Domains (article in journal, 2006) — Salima Hassas, Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo, Anthony Karageorgos, Cristiano Castelfranchi

 Applications of Self-Organising Multi-Agent Systems: An Initial Framework for Comparison (article in journal, 2006) — Carole Bernon, Vincent Chevrier, Vincent Hilaire, Paul Marrow

funding project

 AgentLink III — A Coordination Network for Agent-based Computing (01/01/2004–31/01/2006)

companion publication for

 A Survey of Programming Languages and Platforms for Multi-Agent Systems (article in journal, 2006) — Rafael H. Bordini, Lars Braubach, Mehdi Dastani, Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni, Jorge J. Gómez-Sanz, João Leite, Gregory O’Hare, Alexander Pokahr, Alessandro Ricci

 Bio-inspired Mechanisms for Artificial Self-organised Systems (article in journal, 2006) — Jean-Pierre Mano, Christine Bourjot, Gabriel Lopardo, Pierre Glize

 On Self-Organising Mechanisms from Social, Business and Economic Domains (article in journal, 2006) — Salima Hassas, Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo, Anthony Karageorgos, Cristiano Castelfranchi

 The Second AgentLink III Technical Forum: Main Issues and Hot Topics in European Agent Research – Part 2 (editorial/introduction/preface, 2006) — Andrea Omicini, Paolo Petta, Matjaz Gams

 Applications of Self-Organising Multi-Agent Systems: An Initial Framework for Comparison (article in journal, 2006) — Carole Bernon, Vincent Chevrier, Vincent Hilaire, Paul Marrow

 Self-Organisation and Emergence in MAS: An Overview (article in journal, 2006) — Giovanna Di Marzo Serugendo, Marie-Pierre Gleizes, Anthony Karageorgos