A novel task optimal allocation approach based on Contract Net Protocol for Agent-oriented UUV swarm system modeling

In order to improve the collaborative capability and efficiency, based on Multi-agent system (MAS) and Contract Net Protocol (CNP), a novel task optimal allocation approach Improved Contract Net Protocol (ICNP) is creatively proposed, which mainly focuses on multi-stage reducing network communication to improve the efficiency of the system and the quality of the task completed. In Task Announcement stage, regional trust degree (RTD) is introduced to decrease the communication scope; and in Bidding stage, the abilities are mainly focus to improve learning ability of contractor agent; also in Awarding stage, a least square method combination of subjective and objective is designed to evaluate the biding, which consider the subjective weight and objective weight from the analytic hierarchy process and driving principle of difference respectively. Finally in Executing and Monitoring stage, adaptive adjustment mechanism is employed to change the RTD. During this multi-level process, the Agent-oriented UUV swarm system can make dynamic task allocation based on environment change. Simulation results show the proposed ICNP can realize task optimal allocation for Agent-oriented UUV swarm system modeling.