Multi-agent system for resource allocation and scheduling

Abstract

The paper considers multi agent approach and respective multi-agent system for resource allocation and scheduling within shipping logistics problem. A well known benchmark that is Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows is considered as a case study. The paper proposes an approach to the shipping logistics problem solving that includes auction-based resource allocation and scheduling, distributed reallocation algorithm and distributed version of the "look ahead" algorithm. The proposed approach is implemented and studied experimentally. The experimental results are outlined.