Created and developed by

Torsten Vielhak
Dräger Synematic
Moislinger Allee 53-55
D-23558 Lübeck, Germany
Phone: +49-451-882-1770
Torsten.Vielhak@draeger.com

Matthias Klusch
Deduction and Multi-Agent Systems Lab
German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence Ltd., Germany
klusch@dfki.de

(c) 1997, University of Kiel, Computer Science Department, Germany.

Collaboration with Universidad de Castilla, Spain (Javier Contreras Sanz)
on Application of Coalition Formation Algorithms in Power Transmission Planning

COALA is a general testbed for the simulation of utilitarian coalition formation between autonomous information agents.

In COALA you may define a multi-agent environment including a set of information agents and their productions (in terms of information units). Access to production may be individually limited to a given set of agents; the user may also determine the relevance of productions for other agents which may influence the negotiation of certain types of coalitions.
COALA creates a multi-agent system using the tool IDEAS (Interactive Development Environment for Agent Systems). Formation of coalitions among self-interested agents is then simulated using modified versions of two main concepts steming from cooperative game theory: the Kernel and the Bilateral Shapley Value. Both concepts describe types of stability in coalitions among rational players leading to certain kinds of coalitions. Coalition algorithms are used by the agents to negotiate among each other to form beneficial coalitions in term of monetary (and informative) benefits. The user may select among two types of coalition algorithms: polynomial Kernel, and bilateral Shapley value.
COALA simulates the formation of coalitions and offers a variety of options for analyzing the result of this process including the formation of the coalitions in the run, the negotiation, the development of the coalition values, etc.

Further details on used coalition algorithms may be found in:

* Klusch, M., Shehory, O., 1996, A Polynomial Kernel-Oriented Coalition
  Algorithm for Rational Information Agents, Proc. ICMAS-96, Kyoto, Japan.

* Klusch, M., Shehory, O., 1996, Coalition Formation Among Rational
  Information Agents, 1996, Proc. of MAAMAW, Eindhoven, LNAI Series Vol.
  1038:204-217, Springer-Verlag

* Klusch, M., Kooperative Informationsagenten im Internet,
   Dissertation (in German), Computer Science Dept. University of Kiel,
   Kovacs Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-86064-746-60

How to get COALA?

Download COALA 1.0:  ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-kiel.de/pub/kiel/sysinf/coala/

Download IDEAS 1.0a:   ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-kiel.de/pub/kiel/sysinf/ideas/

Download related packages for installation on SUN Solaris or Linux stations:
 

Tcl/Tk:

•   tcl7.4.tar.gz:   Ousterhouts Tcl Version 7.4 (unpacked sources)
•   tclX7.4a-p2.tar.gz: Tcl Extension  TclX Version 7.4a patchlevel 2 (sources)
•   tk4.0.tar.gz: Ousterhouts Tk Version 4.0 (unpacked sources)

•   BinProlog 3.0 (for Solaris)
•   BinProlog 3.45 (for Linux)

For installation of IDEAS (Solaris or Linux):

• agt_wish.c and init.tcl: Files to replace on Linux stations (Red Hat 5.2).
• ideas-1b_tar.gz: IDEAS 1.0-b (updated version of IDEAS)
• Optional packages.tar.gz: A prototypical installation of IDEAS with a special TK-Reasoner TEWIS

 
You need the following three software tools to run COALA:

• Tcl 7.4 or higher, Tk 4.0 or higher, TclX 7.4 or higher
• BinProlog 3.0 (Sun Solaris) or BinProlog 3.45 (Linux)
• IDEAS 1.0a/b

        Get these sources - see above for downloading.

1. You need IDEAS 1.0a (or updated version 1.0b) to create and simulate multi-agent systems in COALA.
   You also need Tcl/Tk, TclX and BinProlog versions as indicated above.
    (see README file within the IDEAS distribution and User Manual.)

2. Unzip and untar COALA 1.0:

            gunzip -c coala-1.0.tar.gz | tar xvf -

This will create the following directories:

   coala                     main directory
   coala/csource     COALA C source code
   coala/desc           directory for saved games
   coala/help            help files
   coala/log             directory for logfiles
   coala/ps              directory for postscript exports
   coala/tex             directory for TeX exports
   ideas/sources     C source codes for IDEAS agents created with COALA
   ideas/desc          script files for IDEAS agents created with COALA

3. Install all files in "coala/ideas/sources/" to the "sources/" directory of
   your IDEAS installation.

   Install all files in "coala/ideas/desc/" to the "desc/" directory of your
   IDEAS installation.

4. Change directory to "coala/csource".

    Edit the Makefile for your environment.

    Type "make" to compile the COALA main program.

5. Change back to "coala/".

    Edit the "init.tcl" file to set the home directory of your IDEAS installation ("ideasHome").
    You can also edit some options for COALA here.

6. Start COALA with "coala".
 
 

1. Choose "Load Game".

2. Load "info6" or "sixbus"

3. "Create Multiagent System"

4. Type in a name for the IDEAS system file

--- in IDEAS ---

5. Start IDEAS

6. Load your system

7. Activate all agents and wait for the end of the handshakes

8. Send a message with "TYPE start" to all agents
   => the negotiation will start

--- in COALA ---

9. After the end of the negotiation select "Analyze Coalition Formation"
 

HINT:
You can click nearly any widget in COALA with the right mouse button
to open a help text for this widget.