Abstract
Logistics and distribution planning are an important element of military operational planning. The vast level of detail available during planning increases the difficulty in forming a complete solution within time constraints. Moreover, the consideration of multiple planning scenarios is paramount to successfully investigate all available contingencies. This paper presents a hierarchical multi-agent approach to distribution planning. The use of a multi-agent system enables a distribution problem to be logically separated, with each part being delegated to an independent agent. The application of hierarchy allows agent communication to be regulated, reducing redundancy in communication, as encountered in a flat multi-agent structure. Through multiple trials, it was found that the application of hierarchy vastly improved the computational performance of the system, without compromise to solution quality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Tuttle, W.G.T.: Defense logistics for the 21st century. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis (2005)
Simchi-Levi, D., Bramel, J., Chen, X.: The logic of logistics: theory algorithms and applications for logistics and supply chain management. Springer, New York (2005)
Jennings, N.R.: An Agent-Based Approach for Building Complex Software Systems. Communications of the ACMÂ 44 (2001)
Perugini, D., Wark, S., Zschorn, A., Lambert, D., Sterling, L., Pearce, A.: Agents in Logistics Planning - Experiences with the Coalition Agents Experiment Project. In: 2nd International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (2003)
Lenstra, J.K., Rinnooy Kan, A.H.G.: Complexity of Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problems. Networks 11, 221–227 (1981)
Thiagarajan, R., Kwok, H., Calbert, G., Gossink, D., Shekh, S., Allard, T.: A simulation-based risk analysis technique to determine critical assets in a plan. In: 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, pp. 503–509 (2011)
Andreev, S., Rzevski, G., Shviekin, P., Skobelev, P., Yankov, I.: A Multi-agent Scheduler for Rent-a-Car Companies. In: MaÅ™Ãk, V., Strasser, T., Zoitl, A. (eds.) HoloMAS 2009. LNCS, vol. 5696, pp. 305–314. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Böhnlein, D., Schweiger, K., Tuma, A.: Multi-agent-based transport planning in the newspaper industry. International Journal of Production Economics 131, 146–157 (2011)
Robu, V., Noot, H., La Poutré, H., Van Schijndel, W.J.: A multi-agent platform for auction-based allocation of loads in transportation logistics. Expert Systems with Applications 38, 3483–3491 (2011)
Malhotra, A.: Agent-Based Modeling in Defence. DRDO Science Spectrum, 60–65 (March 2009)
Kaddoussi, A., Zoghlami, N., Hammadi, S., Zgaya, H.: An agent-based distributed scheduling for military logistics. In: 11th International Conference on Intelligent Systems Design and Applications (ISDA), pp. 59–64 (2011)
Carrico, T., Greaves, M.: Agent Applications in Defense Logistics. In: Defence Industry Applications of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, pp. 51–72 (2008)
Perugini, D., Jarvis, D., Reschke, S., Gossink, D.: Distributed Deliberative Planning with Partial Observability: Heuristic Approaches. In: International Conference on Integration of Knowledge Intensive Multi-Agent Systems (KIMAS), pp. 407–412 (2007)
Molinero, C., Núñez, M.: Planning of work schedules through the use of a hierarchical multi-agent system. Automation in Construction 20, 1227–1241 (2011)
Wakulicz-Deja, A., Przybyla-Kasperek, M.: Hierarchical Multi-Agent System. In: Recent Advances in Intelligent Information Systems, pp. 615–628 (2009)
Baykasoglu, A., Kaplanoglu, V.: A multi-agent approach to load consolidation in transportation. Advances in Engineering Software 42, 477–490 (2011)
Marsh, L., Gossink, D.: Exploiting Symmetries in Logistics Distribution Planning. In: 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, pp. 482–488 (2011)
Marsh, L.: A Study on Optimisation Techniques for Logistics Distribution. School of Mathematical Sciences. The University of Adelaide, Adelaide (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Allard, T., Shekh, S. (2012). Hierarchical Multi-agent Distribution Planning. In: Thielscher, M., Zhang, D. (eds) AI 2012: Advances in Artificial Intelligence. AI 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 7691. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35101-3_64
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35101-3_64
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-35100-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35101-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)