Message delay and DisCSP search algorithms

Distributed constraint satisfaction problems (DisCSPs) are composed of agents, each holding its own variables, that are connected by constraints to variables of other agents. Due to the distributed nature of the problem, message delay can have unexpected effects on the behavior of distributed search algorithms on DisCSPs. This has been recently shown in experimental studies of asynchronous backtracking algorithms (Bejar et al., Artif. Intell., 161:117–148, 2005; Silaghi and Faltings, Artif. Intell., 161:25–54, 2005). To evaluate the impact of message delay on the run of DisCSP search algorithms, a model for distributed performance measures is presented. The model counts the number of non concurrent constraints checks, to arrive at a solution, as a non concurrent measure of distributed computation. A simpler version measures distributed computation cost by the non-concurrent number of steps of computation. An algorithm for computing these distributed measures of computational effort is described. The realization of the model for measuring performance of distributed search algorithms is a simulator which includes the cost of message delays. Two families of distributed search algorithms on DisCSPs are investigated. Algorithms that run a single search process, and multiple search processes algorithms. The two families of algorithms are described and associated with existing algorithms. The performance of three representative algorithms of these two families is measured on randomly generated instances of DisCSPs with delayed messages. The delay of messages is found to have a strong negative effect on single search process algorithms, whether synchronous or asynchronous. Multi search process algorithms, on the other hand, are affected very lightly by message delay.     

The distributed constraint satisfaction problem: formalization andalgorithms

We develop a formalism called a distributed constraint satisfaction problem (distributed CSP) and algorithms for solving distributed CSPs. A distributed CSP is a constraint satisfaction problem in which variables and constraints are distributed among multiple agents. Various application problems in distributed artificial intelligence can be formalized as distributed CSPs. We present our newly developed technique called asynchronous backtracking that allows agents to act asynchronously and concurrently without any global control, while guaranteeing the completeness of the algorithm. Furthermore, we describe how the asynchronous backtracking algorithm can be modified into a more efficient algorithm called an asynchronous weak-commitment search, which can revise a bad decision without exhaustive search by changing the priority order of agents dynamically. The experimental results on various example problems show that the asynchronous weak-commitment search algorithm is, by far more, efficient than the asynchronous backtracking algorithm and can solve fairly large-scale problems     

ADOPT-ing: unifying asynchronous distributed optimization with asynchronous backtracking

This article presents an asynchronous algorithm for solving distributed constraint optimization problems (DCOPs). The proposed technique unifies asynchronous backtracking (ABT) and asynchronous distributed optimization (ADOPT) where valued nogoods enable more flexible reasoning and more opportunities for communication, leading to an important speed-up. While feedback can be sent in ADOPT by COST messages only to one predefined predecessor, our extension allows for sending such information to any relevant agent. The concept of valued nogood is an extension by Dago and Verfaille of the concept of classic nogood that associates the list of conflicting assignments with a cost and, optionally, with a set of references to culprit constraints. DCOPs have been shown to have very elegant distributed solutions, such as ADOPT, distributed asynchronous overlay (DisAO), or DPOP. These algorithms are typically tuned to minimize the longest causal chain of messages as a measure of how the algorithms will scale for systems with remote agents (with large latency in communication). ADOPT has the property of maintaining the initial distribution of the problem. To be efficient, ADOPT needs a preprocessing step consisting of computing a Depth-First Search (DFS) tree on the constraint graph. Valued nogoods allow for automatically detecting and exploiting the best DFS tree compatible with the current ordering. To exploit such DFS trees it is now sufficient to ensure that they exist. Also, the inference rules available for valued nogoods help to exploit schemes of communication where more feedback is sent to higher priority agents. Together they result in an order of magnitude improvement.     

Concurrent search for distributed CSPs

A distributed concurrent search algorithm for distributed constraint satisfaction problems (DisCSPs) is presented. Concurrent search algorithms are composed of multiple search processes (SPs) that operate concurrently and scan non-intersecting parts of the global search space. Each SP is represented by a unique data structure, containing a current partial assignment (CPA), that is circulated among the different agents. Search processes are generated dynamically, started by the initializing agent, and by any number of agents during search.In the proposed, ConcDB, algorithm, all search processes perform dynamic backtracking. As a consequence of backjumping, a search space can be found unsolvable by a different search process. This enhances the efficiency of the ConcDB algorithm. Concurrent Dynamic Backtracking is an asynchronous distributed algorithm and is shown to be faster than former algorithms for solving DisCSPs. Experimental evaluation of ConcDB, on randomly generated DisCSPs demonstrates that the network load of ConcDB is similar to the network load of synchronous backtracking and is much lower than that of asynchronous backtracking. The advantage of Concurrent Search is more pronounced in the presence of imperfect communication, when messages are randomly delayed.     

Asynchronous Forward-checking for DisCSPs

A new search algorithm for solving distributed constraint satisfaction problems (DisCSPs) is presented. Agents assign variables sequentially, but perform forward checking asynchronously. The asynchronous forward-checking algorithm (AFC) is a distributed search algorithm that keeps one consistent partial assignment at all times. Forward checking is performed by sending copies of the partial assignment to all unassigned agents concurrently. The algorithm is described in detail and its correctness proven. The sequential assignment method of AFC leads naturally to dynamic ordering of agents during search. Several ordering heuristics are presented. The three best heuristics are evaluated and shown to improve the performance of AFC with static order by a large factor. An experimental comparison of AFC to asynchronous backtracking (ABT) on randomly generated DisCSPs is also presented. AFC with ordering heuristics outperforms ABT by a large factor on the harder instances of random DisCSPs. These results hold for two measures of performance: number of non-concurrent constraints checks and number of messages sent. Research supported by the Lynn and William Frankel Center for Computer Sciences and the Paul Ivanier Center for Robotics and Production Management.     

Privacy Loss in Distributed Constraint Reasoning: A Quantitative Framework for Analysis and its Applications

It is critical that agents deployed in real-world settings, such as businesses, offices, universities and research laboratories, protect their individual users’ privacy when interacting with other entities. Indeed, privacy is recognized as a key motivating factor in the design of several multiagent algorithms, such as in distributed constraint reasoning (including both algorithms for distributed constraint optimization (DCOP) and distributed constraint satisfaction (DisCSPs)), and researchers have begun to propose metrics for analysis of privacy loss in such multiagent algorithms. Unfortunately, a general quantitative framework to compare these existing metrics for privacy loss or to identify dimensions along which to construct new metrics is currently lacking. This paper presents three key contributions to address this shortcoming. First, the paper presents VPS (Valuations of Possible States), a general quantitative framework to express, analyze and compare existing metrics of privacy loss. Based on a state-space model, VPS is shown to capture various existing measures of privacy created for specific domains of DisCSPs. The utility of VPS is further illustrated through analysis of privacy loss in DCOP algorithms, when such algorithms are used by personal assistant agents to schedule meetings among users. In addition, VPS helps identify dimensions along which to classify and construct new privacy metrics and it also supports their quantitative comparison. Second, the article presents key inference rules that may be used in analysis of privacy loss in DCOP algorithms under different assumptions. Third, detailed experiments based on the VPS-driven analysis lead to the following key results: (i) decentralization by itself does not provide superior protection of privacy in DisCSP/DCOP algorithms when compared with centralization; instead, privacy protection also requires the presence of uncertainty about agents’ knowledge of the constraint graph. (ii) one needs to carefully examine the metrics chosen to measure privacy loss; the qualitative properties of privacy loss and hence the conclusions that can be drawn about an algorithm can vary widely based on the metric chosen. This paper should thus serve as a call to arms for further privacy research, particularly within the DisCSP/DCOP arena.     

Algorithms for Distributed Constraint Satisfaction: A Review

When multiple agents are in a shared environment, there usually exist constraints among the possible actions of these agents. A distributed constraint satisfaction problem (distributed CSP) is a problem to find a consistent combination of actions that satisfies these inter-agent constraints. Various application problems in multi-agent systems can be formalized as distributed CSPs. This paper gives an overview of the existing research on distributed CSPs. First, we briefly describe the problem formalization and algorithms of normal, centralized CSPs. Then, we show the problem formalization and several MAS application problems of distributed CSPs. Furthermore, we describe a series of algorithms for solving distributed CSPs, i.e., the asynchronous backtracking, the asynchronous weak-commitment search, the distributed breakout, and distributed consistency algorithms. Finally, we show two extensions of the basic problem formalization of distributed CSPs, i.e., handling multiple local variables, and dealing with over-constrained problems.     

Interleaving solving and elicitation of constraint satisfaction problems based on expected cost

We consider Constraint Satisfaction Problems in which constraints can be initially incomplete, where it is unknown whether certain tuples satisfy the constraint or not. We assume that we can determine the satisfaction of such an unknown tuple, i.e., find out whether this tuple is in the constraint or not, but doing so incurs a known cost, which may vary between tuples. We also assume that we know the probability of an unknown tuple satisfying a constraint. We define algorithms for this problem, based on backtracking search. Specifically, we consider a simple iterative algorithm based on a cost limit on the unknowns that may be determined, and a more complex algorithm that delays determining an unknown in order to estimate better whether doing so is worthwhile. We show experimentally that the more sophisticated algorithms can greatly reduce the average cost.     

Nogood-based asynchronous forward checking algorithms

We propose two new algorithms for solving Distributed Constraint Satisfaction Problems (DisCSPs). The first algorithm, AFC-ng, is a nogood-based version of Asynchronous Forward Checking (AFC). Besides its use of nogoods as justification of value removals, AFC-ng allows simultaneous backtracks going from different agents to different destinations. The second algorithm, Asynchronous Forward Checking Tree (AFC-tree), is based on the AFC-ng algorithm and is performed on a pseudo-tree ordering of the constraint graph. AFC-tree runs simultaneous search processes in disjoint problem subtrees and exploits the parallelism inherent in the problem. We prove that AFC-ng and AFC-tree only need polynomial space. We compare the performance of these algorithms with other DisCSP algorithms on random DisCSPs and instances from real benchmarks: sensor networks and distributed meeting scheduling. Our experiments show that AFC-ng improves on AFC and that AFC-tree outperforms all compared algorithms, particularly on sparse problems.     

Timetabling through Constrained Heuristic Search and Genetic Algorithms

Hybrid genetic algorithms are presented that use constrained heuristic search and genetic techniques for the timetabling problem (TP). The TP is an NP-hard problem for which a general polynomial time deterministic algorithm is not known. The paper describes the classification of constraints and the constraint ordering to obtain the minimization of backtracking and the maximization of parallelism. The school timetabling problem is discussed in detail as a case study. The genetic algorithm approach is particularly well suited to this kind of problem, since there exists an easy way to assess a good timetable, but not a well structured automatic technique for constructing it. So, a population of timetables is created that evolves toward the best solution. The evaluation function and the genetic operators are well separated from the domain-specific parts, such as the knowledge of the problem and the heuristics, i.e. from the timetable builder. The present paper illustrates an approach based on the hybridization of constrained heuristic search with novel genetic algorithm techniques. It compares favourably with known programs to solve decision problems under logic constraints. The cost of the new algorithm and the quality of the solutions obtained in significant experiments are reported.     

Distributed constraint optimization with MULBS: A case study on collaborative meeting scheduling

This paper introduces MULBS, a new DCOP (distributed constraint optimization problem) algorithm and also presents a DCOP formulation for scheduling of distributed meetings in collaborative environments. Scheduling in CSCWD can be seen as a DCOP where variables represent time slots and values are resources of a production system (machines, raw-materials, hardware components, etc.) or management system (meetings, project tasks, human resources, money, etc). Therefore, a DCOP algorithm must find a set of variable assignments that maximize an objective function taking constraints into account. However, it is well known that such problems are NP-complete and that more research must be done to obtain feasible and reliable computational approaches. Thus, DCOP emerges as a very promising technique: the search space is decomposed into smaller spaces and agents solve local problems, collaborating in order to achieve a global solution. We show with empirical experiments that MULBS outperforms some of the state-of-the-art algorithms for DCOP, guaranteeing high quality solutions using less computational resources for the distributed meeting scheduling task.     

两种高效局部搜索算法求解RB模型实例

RB （revised B）模型是一种在约束可满足问题中具备精确相变增长域的随机实例模型,提出两种高效的启发式局部搜索算法用于解决RB模型生成的大值域约束可满足问题。首先为基于权重指导搜索的W-MCH算法,该算法通过约束判断和违反约束数计分来进行搜索,并引入了基于约束违反概率的权重计算公式,根据其关联的约束权重进行修正,再对变量进行迭代调整。然后提出最小化值域的MDMCH算法,该算法通过记录违反约束和逐步消除已违反约束变量的启发式策略来减少搜索空间,并在最小化后的变量域内重新校准变量赋值,进而有效提高算法的收敛速度。此外,还提出了融入模拟退火策略的WSCH和MDSCH算法,这两种算法都能根据变量的表征特点对变量域进行针对性的搜索。实验结果表明,与多种启发式算法相比,这两种算法在精度与时间效率方面均呈现明显提升,在复杂难解的实例中能够提供高效的求解效率,验证了算法的有效性和优越性。     

An affine-scaling derivative-free trust-region method for solving nonlinear systems subject to linear inequality constraints

In this paper, an affine-scaling derivative-free trust-region method with interior backtracking line search technique is considered for solving nonlinear systems subject to linear inequality constraints. The proposed algorithm is designed to take advantage of the problem structured by building polynomial interpolation models for each function in the nonlinear system function F. The proposed approach is developed by forming a quadratic model with an appropriate quadratic function and scaling matrix: there is no need to handle the constraints explicitly. By using both trust-region strategy and interior backing line search technique, each iteration switches to backtracking step generated by the trust-region subproblem and satisfies strict interior point feasibility by line search backtracking technique. Under reasonable conditions, the global convergence and fast local convergence rate of the proposed algorithm are established. The results of numerical experiments are reported to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.     

基于Multi-Agent系统的多飞行器协同路径规划方法的研究

无人多飞行器(UAV)协同技术是当前分布式人工智能的一个热点领域,其中一个关键技术在于如何实现多UAV集群根据复杂环境中目标、威胁、地形变化以及各UAV之间的性能约束动态进行实时性航路规划。提出一种基于Multi-agent系统的多UAV对实时动态多目标进行路径规划的方法。其核心是基于Multi-agent系统的decen-tralized控制方案。在Multi-agent平台上,实现了agent对于环境、目标、任务等路劲规划约束条件的建模,同时提出了多agent动态路径规划方法的实现方案。方案使用DisCSP模型框架,将基于真实复杂战场环境的实时路径规划问题所涉及的多复杂限制条件,抽象成Multi-agent系统中的各个约束条件,通过多agent间Dynamic Programming过程求解多UAV实时动态多目标的路径规划和协同任务分配的ABT算法,并实现在动态威胁和地形以及动态目标下具备集群协同能力的多UAV实时仿真系统。     

Intelligent backtracking in CLP(ℜ)

CLP() is a constraint logic programming language in which constraints can be expressed in the domain of real numbers. Computation in this specialized domain gives access to information useful in intelligent backtracking. In this paper, we present an efficient constraint satisfaction algorithm for linear constraints in the real number domain and show that our algorithm directly generates minimal sets of conflicting constraints when failures occur. We demonstrate how information gleaned during constraint satisfaction can be integrated with unification failure analysis. The resulting intelligent backtracking method works in the context of a two-sorted domain, where variables can be bound to either structured terms or real number expressions. We discuss the implementation of backtracking and show examples where the benefit of pruning the search tree outweights the overhead of failure analysis.     

基于对称破坏的子图同构约束求解算法

为避免子图同构问题求解中重复解的产生,提高子图同构问题的约束求解效率,提出一种基于对称破坏的子图同构约束求解算法。基于解的对称破坏思想,改进自同构检测过程,通过置换群操作生成对称破坏字典序约束,构建子图同构问题的一种约束满足问题(CSP)模型,结合CSP的回溯算法对其求解。实验结果表明,该算法有效减少了对重复解的搜索,与传统算法相比明显提高了搜索效率。     

基于回溯搜索算法的决策粗糙集属性约简

属性约简是粗糙集理论的核心问题,为了获得更多更稳定的最小属性约简,根据决策粗糙集模型将最小属性约简问题转化为决策风险最小化问题,并给出了新的适应度函数计算方法;在此基础上利用回溯搜索算法较强的全局搜索性能,提出了基于回溯搜索算法的决策粗糙集属性约简算法;对UCI数据集的实验结果以及与其他约简算法的比较表明,该算法能够得到更多的最小属性约简,而且能够在多次运行中保持约简结果个数的稳定性。     

Multi-variable distributed backtracking with sessions

The Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) formalism is used to represent many combinatorial decision problems instances simply and efficiently. However, many such problems cannot be solved on a single, centralized computer for various reasons (e.g., their excessive size or privacy). The Distributed CSP (DisCSP) extends the CSP model to allow such combinatorial decision problems to be modelled and handled. In this paper, we propose a complete DisCSP-solving algorithm, called Distributed Backtracking with Sessions (DBS), which can solve DisCSP so that each agent encapsulates a whole “complex” problem with many variables and constraints. We prove that the algorithm is sound and complete, and generates promising experimental results.     

约束满足混合算法求解并行机Job-Shop调度问题

分析并行机Job-Shop调度问题的特点并建立其约束满足优化模型,结合约束满足与变邻域搜索技术设计了一个求解该问题的混合优化算法。该算法采用变量排序方法和值排序方法选择变量并赋值,利用回溯和约束传播消解资源冲突,生成初始可行调度,然后应用局部搜索技术增强收敛性,并通过结合问题特点设计的邻域结构的多样性提高求解质量。数据实验表明,提出的算法与其他两种算法相比,具有一定的可行性和有效性。     

DCSP和DCOP求解研究进展

分布式约束满足问题（DCSP）和分布式约束最优问题（DCOP）的研究是分布式人工智能领域的基础性工作。本文首先介绍了卿和DCOP的形式化描述及对实际应用问题的建模方法。在DCSP和DCOP的求解中,通常对问题要进行限制和要求,同时要满足分布性、异步性、局部性、完备性的原则。异步回溯（ABT）、异步弱承诺搜索（AWC）和分布式逃逸（DB）算法是求解DCSP的有代表性的算法;DCSP算法对DCOP求解产生了影响,但由DCSP一般化到DCOP的算法,仅适用于解决部分特定的问题,DCOP的最优、异步算法有异步分布式约束最优算法（A—dopt）和最优异步部分交叉算法（OptAPO）。本文讨论了上述算法的性能。相关的研究工作在多局部变量的处理、超约束DCSP、算法性能度量、通信的保密等方面进行了扩充,在对问题本身的研究、建模方法学、算法、与其他方法的结合以及拓展应用领域等方面仍有许多问题需要进一步研究。