The Use of Meta-Level Control for Coordination in a Distributed Problem Solving Network

Distributed problem-solving networks provide an interesting application area for meta-level control through the use of organizational structuring. We describe a decentralized approach to network coordination that relies on each node making sophisticated local decisions that balance its own perceptions of appropriate problem-solving activity with activities deemed important by other nodes. Each node is guided by a high-level strategic plan for cooperation among the nodes in the network. The high-level strategic plan, which is a form of meta-level control, is represented as a network organizational structure that specifies in a general way the information and control relationships among the nodes. An implementation of these ideas is briefly described along with the results of preliminary experiments with various network problem-solving strategies specified via organizational structuring. In addition to its application to Distributed Artificial Intelligence, this research has implications for organizing and controlling complex knowledge-based systems that involve semi-autonomous problem solving agents.