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Abstract : |
We present a system for multi-agent contract negotiation, implemented as an auctionbased market architecture called MAGNET. A principal feature of MAGNET is support for negotiation of contracts based on temporal and precedence constraints. We propose using an extended combinatorial auction paradigm to support these negotiations. A critical component of the agent negotiation process in a MAGNET system is the ability of a customer to evaluate the bids of competing suppliers. Winner determination in standard combinatorial auctions is known to be di#cult, and the problem is further complicated by the addition of temporal constraints and a requirement to complete the winner-determination process within a hard deadline. We introduce two approaches to the extended winner determination problem. One is based on Integer Programming, and the other is a flexible, multi-criterion, anytime bid evaluator based on a simulated annealing framework. We evaluate the performance of both approaches and show how performance data can be used in the agent's deliberation-scheduling process. The results show that coarse problem-size metrics can be e#ectively used to predict winner-determination processing time. 1, |
