Fuzzy constraint-directed negotiation mechanism as a framework for multi-agent scheduling

This paper presents a fuzzy constraint-directed negotiation mechanism for agent-based scheduling. Scheduling problem is modeled as a set of fuzzy constraint satisfaction problems (FCSP), interlinked together by inter-agent constraints. Each FCSP represents the perspective of participants and is governed by agents. Negotiation process is considered as a global consistency enforcing via iterative constraint adjustment and relaxation. To facilitate convergence and improve solution quality for a particular performance measure, sharing meta-scheduling information during negotiation is applied. Experimental results suggest that the proposed approach not only can obtain a high quality schedule in a cost-effective manner, but also provides superior performance in all criteria to other negotiation models for agent-based scheduling.