Comparison of distributed methods for resource allocation

Resource allocation problems aim to achieve certain goals or objectives by allocating resources. Traditionally, centralized methods are applied to such problems. However, the inherent, decentralized nature of many corporates/companies/factories drives the investigation on decentralized or distributed methods. This paper provides an overview of research activities in the field of distributed methods for resource allocation problems. We concentrate on classifying the resource allocation problems, comparing different methods and discussing how these different methods can be applied to the problems. Finally, a range of open issues and future challenges are highlighted. Keywords: Multi-agent systemDistributed artificial intelligenceResource allocationProduction Acknowledgements This research was partially supported by funds from the National Science Foundation CAREER awards under grant number DMI-0239276 and by the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) under grant number F49620-01-1-0317. The United States government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright annotation thereon. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of AFRL-Rome, DoD, AFOSR, NSF or the United States Government.