An adaptive distributed auction algorithm and its application to multi-AUV task assignment

The task assignment of multi-agent system has attracted considerable attention; however, the contradiction between computational complexity and assigning performance remains to be resolved. In this paper, a novel consensus-based adaptive optimization auction (CAOA) algorithm is proposed to greatly reduce the computation load while attaining enhanced system payoff. A new optimization scheme is designed to optimize the critical control parameter in the price update role of auction algorithm which can reduce the searching complexity in obtaining a better bidding price. With this new scheme, the CAOA algorithm is designed. Then the developed algorithm is applied to the multi-AUV task assignment problem for underwater detection mission in complex environments. The simulation and comparison studies verify the effectiveness and advantage of the CAOA algorithm.