Abstract:
Advances in physical hardware, computational tools and integration methods have enabled the design and deployment of complex engineered systems. In many cases the complexity of these systems makes centralized coordination and control impractical, and even infeasible. Distributed decision-making offers a practical approach to managing such systems. However, coordinating and aggregating actions of multiple decision-makers poses several challenges. This seminar focuses on two fundamental issues related to distributed decision-making, namely group rationality and distributed coordination.

The group irrationality discussion focuses on identifying ranges of attributes in which a collection of decision-makers produce irrational outcomes for a specific preference aggregation scheme. We use geometric representations to identify group characteristics that lead to irrational outcomes for the Condorcet scheme. These results allow us to predict, and possibly manipulate, group decision outcomes. The discussion on distributed coordination is framed in the context of resource allocation in sensor networks for tracking targets. The distributed coordination problem is formulated as a multi-linked bargaining market. We discuss a set of bargaining strategies and present a distributed fixed-point method that allows efficient (real-time) computation of the equilibrium solution.

We conclude the talk with a discussion of open problems in designing and managing large-scale engineered decision systems, and present an overview of our on-going work in the area of distributed decision-making.

* Joint work with Chandrasekar Sundaram and Timothy Middelkoop

Bio:
Abhijit Deshmukh is a Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University, and Director of the Institute for Manufacturing Systems. Previously, he was Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and Director of the Consortium for Distributed Decision-Making, and the Security, Emergency Preparedness and Response Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. From 2004-2007, he was Program Director in the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Directorate and the Office of Cyberinfrastructure. Dr. Deshmukh received his PhD in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University. He has received the NSF Director’s Award for Collaborative Integration, Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award, and Milton C. Shaw Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award. His research interests are in distributed decision-making, system complexity, sensor networks and cyberinfrastructure for engineering applications.

TUESDAY, October 27, 2009
SEMINAR 5:00 - 6:00 pm
CoRE – Lecture Hall

*Refreshments will be served in the IE lounge area at 4:30 prior to the seminar.

Speaker is hosted by Elsayed A. Elsayed

Tel: 732-445-3859, Email: elsayed@rci.rutgers.edu