Nash equilibrium for communication protocols in decentralized discrete-event systems

Finding optimal communication strategies for a controller in a decentralized control setting is challenging because the best strategy depends on the choices of other controllers, all of whom are also trying to optimize their own strategies. An optimal strategy in this context is one that minimizes the cost of the communication protocol for each controller. Communication policies that satisfy Nash equilibrium, an important solution concept in game theory, are of particular interest. A recent algorithm for efficiently calculating a Nash equilibrium point for multi-agent systems in a game-theoretic setting is adapted for the problem of incorporating communication into decentralized discrete-event systems.