1. Negotiation & Challenge Problem meet Complexity & Dynamics Purview: interaction between dynamics & complexity teams and challenge problem teams –Can CP teams exploit work by D&C teams at run-time? ANTS PI Meeting, Scottsdale, AZ, 18 December 2001

2. What Can Dynamics & Complexity Contribute? A priori analysis/experiments may give run-time guides –e.g., experimental determination of order parameters may allow experimental results to be extrapolated to broader systems Phase transition phenomena can be detected at run-time –not just an off-line analysis technique Run-time metrics can approximately/heuristically determine negotiation “position” –w.r.t. phase boundary –w.r.t. shortest completion time …

3. … Contribution (cont.) Example indicators: –information content exchanged between agents –length of negotiation chains/size of interaction graphs –duration of negotiation sessions –brittleness of solutions –heuristic identification of back-bone variables Detection can be local –but may require extant protocols to be augmented with transition- related information

4. How Can D&C Information be Exploited? Negotiation parameters may be tied to phase transition information –agents may adjust resource usage to suit easy, difficult or intractable problems –agents may abandon low-priority tasks if high-priority tasks are determined to be in jeopardy –backbone variables may be considered to be non-negotiable –agents may be willing to compromise earlier if they know they are near the phase boundary –hypothesis: more realistic expectations of what is achievable may lead to better outcomes Most protocols already have suitable controls –incorporating D&C elements is anticipated, by CP teams, to be straightforward

5. Finding Complexity Statistical techniques of D&C tend to be important in large systems –100s of sensors, dozens of targets –Will challenge problem provide suitable context? simulator? Other dimensions of complexity may be relevant –e.g., size of state space arising from complexity of sensors –Which characteristics of challenge problem sensors are representative of typical, deployed systems? Performance profiles other than phase transitions play a role –predictions of costs of negotiation can help determine course of negotiation

6. Action Items December 31: Stephen Fitzpatrick (fitzpatrick@kestrel.edu) collect 1-page descriptions of analyses from D&C teams and distribute to CP teams –what protocol characteristics D&C teams need to know January 7, Stephen Fitzpatrick collect 1-page descriptions of protocols from CP teams and distribute to D&C teams –detailed/concrete enough to allow D&C teams to determine course of further investigation –unrealistic to expect all negotiation protocols used by CP teams to be described as variants of a single protocol so D&C teams will need to focus