Centre for Computing and Communication Technologies (TZI)
University of Bremen, Am Fallturm 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Supply network management is a challenging task due to the complexity, dynamics, and distribution of logistics processes. Delegating process control to intelligent software agents that represent logistics objects and act on their behalf helps approach these challenges. The resulting problem decomposition reduces the computational complexity. Dynamics can be dealt with locally. An important prerequisite for coordinated process control is that agents can cooperate with each other. Based on requirements from logistics, this paper presents an interaction protocol for team formation. A thorough complexity analysis for the proposed method is conducted because the arising interaction effort is not obvious as it depends on the number of teams formed. Therewith, agent developers can estimate the interaction effort and thus the applicability of the method in advance. Finally, an application of the introduced protocol is outlined.
Schuldt, A. (2011). Team Formation for Agent Cooperation in Logistics: Protocol Design and Complexity Analysis. In Filipe, J. and Fred, A. (eds.): 3rd International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence (ICAART 2011). Rome, Italy, January 28-30, 2011. INSTICC Press, pp. 398-405.