A Contract Net Protocol Based on Information Intermediary Service in Multi-agent System

Being the first work for decentralized task allocation with a negotiation process involving a mutual selection, contract net protocol (CNP) has been widely applied to kinds of multi-agent system (MAS). To solve the problem of flexible and dynamic system integration, agent techniques is introduced. On the basis of researches on CNP, an implementation of contract net protocol based on information intermediary service (CNPIIS) is proposed to support dynamic task allocations between modules wrapped into agents. Combining with the concept of degree of credibility (DOC) and degree of availability (DOA), CNPIIS made further extensions to CNP by the idea of providing services which enabled the initiator find a contractor more accurately and effectively. The aim of CNPIIS is to relieve the communication load and improve the efficiency of negotiation. CNPIIS was applied to the agent-based system integration tool and has been demonstrated to be effective and of high efficiency with assured quality in the experiment of border and coast defense simulation system.