Multi Agent Resource Allocation: a Comparison of Five Negotiation Protocols

This paper describes five systems that exploit negotiation strategies to solve multiagent resource allocation problems. A deep comparison is drawn among them according to different criteria that involve general features of the systems; adherence to widely accepted agent definitions; domain, purpose, and approach; analysis, design and implementation of the negotiation protocol. Considerations on how extending one of the analyzed systems in order to move a concrete step towards the realization of an integrated platform for developing negotiation protocols are also provided in the conclusions.

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