Managing Concurrent Negotiations in Multi-agent Systems

Abstract

The one-to-many agent system is a typical multi-agent system that involves interaction between agents through negotiation. The one-to-many negotiation form is a complicated problem especially when the negotiation is about distinct negotiation objects characterized by multiple negotiation issues. The complexity of the problem comes from the existence of many variables in the negotiation process. For example, the number of agents, the number of objects and the number of negotiation issues contribute to the problem complexity. Few existing works address some aspects of the coordination problem in the one-to-many negotiation form. However, most works address simple negotiation scenarios such as negotiation over a single object characterized by a single issue or multiple issues. The aim of this research is to investigate possible coordination problems in the one-to-many negotiation form and propose effective and robust solutions for a number negotiation scenarios. We test our solutions by evaluating some negotiation objective criteria such as utility gain, agreement rate etc.