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Overlay networks for task allocation and coordination in large-scale networks of cooperative agents

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Abstract

This paper proposes a novel method for scheduling and allocating atomic and complex tasks in large-scale networks of homogeneous or heterogeneous cooperative agents. Our method encapsulates the concepts of searching, task allocation and scheduling seamlessly in a decentralized process where no accumulated or centralized knowledge or coordination is necessary. Efficient searching for agent groups that can facilitate the scheduling of tasks is accomplished through the use of a dynamic overlay structure of gateway agents and the exploitation of routing indices. The task allocation and the scheduling of complex tasks are accomplished by combining dynamic reorganization of agent groups and distributed constraint optimization methods. Experimental results display the efficiency of the proposed method.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Panagiotis Karagiannis & Nikolaos Samaras

  2. Department of Information and Communication Systems Engineering, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece

    George Vouros & Kostas Stergiou

Authors
  1. Panagiotis Karagiannis
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  2. George Vouros
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  3. Kostas Stergiou
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  4. Nikolaos Samaras
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Correspondence to Kostas Stergiou.

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Karagiannis, P., Vouros, G., Stergiou, K. et al. Overlay networks for task allocation and coordination in large-scale networks of cooperative agents. Auton Agent Multi-Agent Syst 24, 26–68 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10458-010-9143-4

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