An analysis of multi-agent diagnosis

Abstract

This paper analyzes the use of a Multi-Agent System for Model-Based Diagnosis. In a large dynamical system, it is often infeasible or even impossible to maintain a model of the whole system. Instead, several incomplete models of the system have to be used to establish a diagnosis and to detect possible faults. These models may also be physically distributed.A Multi-Agent System of diagnostic agents may offer solutions for establishing a global diagnosis. If we use a separate agent for each incomplete model of the system, establishing a global diagnosis becomes a problem of cooperation and negotiation between the diagnostic agents. This raises the question whether `a set of diagnostic agents, each having an incomplete model of the system, can (efficiently) determine the same global diagnosis as an ideal single diagnostic agent having the combined knowledge of these agents?