A method for solving distributed service allocation problems

Abstract

We present a method for solving service allocation problems in which a set of services must be allocated to a set of agents so as to maximize a global utility. The method is completely distributed so it can scale to any number of services without degradation. We first formalize the service allocation problem and then present a simple hill-climbing, a global hill-climbing, and a bidding-protocol algorithm for solving it. We analyze the expected performance of these algorithms as a function of various problem parameters such as the branching factor and the number of agents. Finally, we use the sensor allocation problem, an instance of a service allocation problem, to show the bidding protocol at work. The simulations also show that phase transition on the expected quality of the solution exists as the amount of communication between agents increases.