Paper:
Multiagent Architecture Combined with a Multicontract Protocol for FMS Control
Amar Khoukhi* and Adlene Moualek**
*Ls 14 Rae Amirat Abdelkader Ouled-Moussa Boumendes. Algeriea. (Current Address: 3865 # 4 Beambien E Montreal, PQ. Canada HlX 1H3)
**USTHB, BP32 El Alia Bab. Ettouar Algerie
This paper describes a new Multiagent architecture for control of flexible manufacturing. In this architecture, agents coordinate their actions following a new negotiation protocol used for scheduling and rescheduling of tasks. The proposed protocol, MultiContract-Net, is an innovation of Contract-Net protocol enabling several tasks to be negotiated concurrently in real time with optimal results. Thus, the multicontract-Net protocol enables both dynamic task allocation and optimization of opportunities provided by manufacturing flexibility by handling knowledge uncertainty characterizing the negotiation process. This paper stresses the efficiency of distributed implementation.
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