An Adaptive Choice of Messaging Protocol in Multi Agent Systems

abstract, form of this problem, we use a mathematical analysis to show that three different messaging protocols result in varying message loads, depending on certain parameters such as number of agents and frequency of request. If the parameters are fixed, we can conclude that one of these three protocols is better than the others. However, these parameters will usually vary over time, and hence the best of the three protocols will vary. We show that the community can adopt the best protocol if each individual agent makes a local decision based on which protocol will minimise its own message load. Hence, local decisions lead to globally good behaviour. We demonstrate this both mathematically and experimentally.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: ICMAS
• Authors: Chris Preist, Siani Pearson
• Keywords: ICMAS 1998, Intelligent Agents, Local Decisions, Message Load, Parameters