Cooperative Distributed Problem Solving is a network of semi-autonomous processing nodes working together to solve a problem, typically in a multi-agent system

Multi-agent system

A multi-agent system is a system composed of multiple interacting intelligent agents. Multi-agent systems can be used to solve problems that are difficult or impossible for an individual agent or a monolithic system to solve...

. That is concerned with the investigation of problem subdivision, sub-problem distribution, results synthesis, optimisation of problem solver coherence and co-ordination. It is closely related to distributed constraint programming and distributed constraint optimization; see the links below.

Aspects of CDPS

• Neither global control nor global data storage - no individual CDPS problem solver (agent) has sufficient information to solve the entire problem.
• Control and data are distributed
• Communication is slower than computation, therefore:
  • Loose coupling between problem solvers
  • Efficient protocols (not too much communication overhead)
  • problems should be modular, coarse grained
• Any unique node is a potential bottleneck
  • Organised behaviour is hard to guarantee since no one node has the complete picture

See also

• Multiscale decision making
  Multiscale decision making
  Multiscale decision making, also referred to as Multiscale decision theory , is a recently developed approach in operations research that fuses game theory, multi-agent influence diagrams, in particular dependency graphs, and Markov decision processes to solve multiscale challenges across...
  
  
• Distributed constraint optimization
  Distributed constraint optimization
  Distributed constraint optimization is the distributed analogue to constraint optimization. A DCOP is a problem in which a group of agents must distributedly choose values for a set of variables such that the cost...
  
  
• DisCSP
• Distributed artificial intelligence
  Distributed artificial intelligence
  Distributed artificial intelligence is a subfield of artificial intelligence research dedicated to the development of distributed solutions for complex problems regarded as requiring intelligence...
  
  
• Multi-agent planning
  Multi-agent planning
  In computer science multi-agent planning involves coordinating the resources and activities of multiple "agents".NASA says, "multiagent planning is concerned with planning by multiple agents...
  
  

Some Relevant Books

A chapter in an edited book.

See Chapters 1 and 2; downloadable free online.