Abstract

We consider collaborative decision making and control in multi-agent systems. The emphasis is to derive simple distributed algorithms that work provably very well, while having minimal knowledge of the system and its parameters; thus the need for learning. We consider a behavior learning algorithm for a class of behavior functions and study its effects on the emergence of coordination in the network. Next we consider multi-agent systems, with each agent picking actions from a finite set and receiving a payoff depending on the actions of all agents. The exact form of the payoffs is unknown and only their values can be measured by the agents. We develop a decentralized algorithm that leads to the agents picking welfare optimizing actions utilizing the interactions in the payoffs from the agents’ actions, and if needed very simple bit-valued information exchanges between the agents. We next consider the continuous time and continuous state space version of the problem based on ideas from extremum seeking control. Our results show how indirect communications (signaling between the agents via their interactions through the system) and direct communications (direct messages sent between the agents) can complement each other and lead to simple distributed control algorithms with remarkably good performance. Several applications are briefly discussed.

Bio:

Prof. John S. Baras has an impressive CV: B.S. in Electrical Eng. From the Nat. Techn. Univ. of Athens, Greece, 1970; M.S.and Ph.D. in Applied Math. from Harvard Univ. 1971, 1973. Since 1973 with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, and the Applied Mathematics Faculty, at the University of Maryland College Park. Since 2000 faculty member in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering. Founding Director of the Institute for Systems Research (ISR) from 1985 to 1991. Since 1991, has been the Director of the Maryland Center for Hybrid Networks (HYNET). Fellow of the IEEE and a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. Received the 1980 George Axelby Prize from the IEEE Control Systems Society and the 2006 Leonard Abraham Prize from the IEEE Communications Society

For more information about him, have a look at this website http://www.isr.umd.edu/~baras/