A Multiagent-Based Algorithm for Ring-Structured Shipboard Power System Reconfiguration

The shipboard power system (SPS) supplies energy to electric equipment on ships. It is critical for the system to be reconfigurable for the purpose of survivability and reliability. In earlier work, a decentralized approach using agents for a radial SPS reconfiguration is successfully developed. Each agent in this system communicates only with its immediate neighbors, which reduces the dependency on the system topology. However, a ring structure in the system leads to the problem of redundant information accumulation among the agents, making the information flow in the system unstable. In this correspondence, the authors propose a method, based on the use of the spanning tree algorithm in the IEEE 802.1d protocol, for an agent system to detect and break the ring structure in the system. Then, an algorithm for calculating the information flow without redundant information accumulation is put forward. Finally, the proposed methodology is illustrated through a test case on a simplified SPS.