Multiagent Decision Making in Collaborative Decision Networks by Utility Cluster Based Partial Evaluation

We consider optimal multiagent cooperative decision making in stochastic environments. The focus is on simultaneous decision making, during which agents cooperate by limited communication. We model the multiagent system as a collaborative decision network (CDN). Several techniques are developed to improve efficiency for decision making with CDNs. We present an equivalent transformation of CDN subnets to facilitate model manipulation. We propose partial evaluation to allow action profiles evaluated with reduced computation. We decompose a CDN subnet, based on clustering of utility variables. A general simultaneous decision making algorithm suite is developed that embeds these techniques. We show that the new algorithm suite improves efficiency by a combination of a linear factor and an exponential factor.