Showing papers on "Contract Net Protocol published in 2013"
TL;DR: Empirical results obtained from an agent-based testbed show that agents in this work can successfully compose services to satisfy service requirements, autonomously select services based on dynamic fees, effectively cope with constantly changing consumers’ service needs that trigger updates, and compose services in multiple Clouds even with incomplete information about Cloud participants.
Abstract: Service composition in multi-Cloud environments must coordinate self-interested participants, automate service selection, (re)configure distributed services, and deal with incomplete information about Cloud providers and their services. This work proposes an agent-based approach to compose services in multi-Cloud environments for different types of Cloud services: one-time virtualized services, e.g., processing a rendering job, persistent virtualized services, e.g., infrastructure-as-a-service scenarios, vertical services, e.g., integrating homogenous services, and horizontal services, e.g., integrating heterogeneous services. Agents are endowed with a semi-recursive contract net protocol and service capability tables (information catalogs about Cloud participants) to compose services based on consumer requirements. Empirical results obtained from an agent-based testbed show that agents in this work can: successfully compose services to satisfy service requirements, autonomously select services based on dynamic fees, effectively cope with constantly changing consumers' service needs that trigger updates, and compose services in multiple Clouds even with incomplete information about Cloud participants.
118 citations
TL;DR: A family of 14 scheduling heuristics for concurrently executing BoTs in Cloud environments are proposed and empirical results show that BoTs are effectively executed by achieving a 100% success execution rate even with high BoT execution request rates and are economically executed by elastically reallocating Cloud resources on demand.
107 citations
TL;DR: This paper presents a new logic-based language to specify commitment-based protocols, which is derived from ACTL^*^c, a logic extending CTL^* with modalities to represent and reason about social commitments and their actions and develops a new symbolic algorithm to perform model checking dedicated to the proposed logic.
Abstract: Although several approaches have been proposed to specify multi-agent commitment-based protocols that capture flexible and rich interactions among autonomous and heterogeneous agents, very few of them synthesize their formal specification and automatic verification in an integrated framework. In this paper, we present a new logic-based language to specify commitment-based protocols, which is derived from ACTL^*^c, a logic extending CTL^* with modalities to represent and reason about social commitments and their actions. We present a reduction technique that formally transforms the problem of model checking ACTL^*^c to the problem of model checking GCTL^* (an extension of CTL^* with action formulae). We prove that the reduction technique is sound and we fully implement it on top of the CWB-NC model checker to automatically verify the NetBill protocol, a motivated and specified example in the proposed specification language. We also apply the proposed technique to check the compliance of another protocol: the Contract Net protocol with given properties and report and discuss the obtained results. We finally develop a new symbolic algorithm to perform model checking dedicated to the proposed logic.
47 citations
TL;DR: It is advocated that the cooperation based teamwork coupled with higher flexibility and agility is the key to success to remain unperturbed and provide reasonably good solution in the face of disturbances and stands superior to its hierarchical counterpart.
45 citations
TL;DR: A method to fuse prices and to decide which robot is the successful bidder using a BP neural network is proposed and the experiment result shows that the method is effective.
Abstract: Contract Net Protocol is a suitable method for multi-robot task allocation problems However, it is difficult to find a function to evaluate robots’ bids when each robot gives more than one bid price to reflect its different abilities We propose a method to fuse these prices and to decide which robot is the successful bidder using a BP neural network The experiment result shows that the method is effective
10 citations
24 Jun 2013
TL;DR: AnIT2F based hybrid strategy that combines IT2F programming and IT2f contract net protocol (CNP) is proposed, where the variables (e.g. due date, completion time and processing time) that gained from manufacturing experts, are presented by IT1F membership functions.
Abstract: This paper deals with an interval type 2 fuzzy (IT2F) multi agent based expert system for scheduling of steel production. At first, we introduce a distributed multi agent based structure. Then, we propose an IT2F based hybrid strategy that combines IT2F programming and IT2F contract net protocol (CNP), where the variables (e.g. due date, completion time and processing time) that gained from manufacturing experts, are presented by IT2F membership functions.
9 citations
17 Nov 2013
TL;DR: This study focuses on the reliability of the awarded contractor which may die while carrying out the assigned task and proposes a formal model that extends the conventional contract net with real time constraints, and fault tolerance to handle the agent death exception.
Abstract: Contract Net Protocol (CNP) is probably the most widely used task allocation protocol in distributed multi-agent systems (MAS). However it is limited in some issues and has serious drawbacks if it is applied in such real world applications where temporal interaction aspects are of great importance and fault-tolerance is a crucial issue. Many researchers have proposed various methods to expand and to improve it but those challenges have not been much addressed. To cope with these limitations, this paper proposes a formal model that extends the conventional contract net with real time constraints, often defined as interaction duration and message deadlines, and fault tolerance to handle the agent death exception. In this study we concentrate on the reliability of the awarded contractor which may die while carrying out the assigned task. In the proposed approach a timeout mechanism is modeled to detect the crash failure of the contractor, hence a proper termination of the negotiation process can be timely performed by the manager ensuring the failure recovery. We model the extended CNP with timed colored Petri nets and show that it terminates correctly either in a safety case or in a failure situation. The model analysis by means of CPN tools proves that the protocol meets the key properties namely model correctness, deadline respect, absence of deadlocks and live locks, absence of dead code, agent terminal states consistency, concurrency and validity.
5 citations
01 Dec 2013
TL;DR: Based on the distributed characteristic of task assignment, the idea of market auction mechanism from contract net protocol is introduced and this method is used to build the cooperative task assignment model.
Abstract: Aiming at the task assignment problem of unmanned combat aerial vehicle (abbreviated as UCAV), we consider single UCAV as an agent here, then UCAV formation compose multi-agent system (abbreviated as MAS) by using the theory of complex adaptive system. We established the target function model and correlative restriction model of task assignment for MAS. Based on the distributed characteristic of task assignment, we introduce the idea of market auction mechanism from contract net protocol (abbreviated as CNP) and use this method to build the cooperative task assignment model. Simulations prove that the model based on MAS and CNP we built is correct. And also simulation results indicate that contract net protocol can solve the problem of task assignment effectively and can achieve the global optimization.
5 citations
11 Sep 2013
TL;DR: This study defines a knowledge-based negotiation procedure where protocols and strategies are separated enabling reusability and thus enabling agent participation in interaction processes without the need of reprogramming.
Abstract: E-Commerce enabled new ways of transactions. Companies and individuals negotiate and make contracts every day. Practically, contracts are agreements between parties that must be kept. These agreements affect the involved parties irretrievably. Hence, negotiating them efficiently is proved vital. To this end we propose the use of intelligent agents, which benefit from Semantic Web technologies, such as RDF and RuleML, for data and policy exchanges. Each agent encounter is characterized by the interaction or negotiation protocol and each party's strategy. This study defines a knowledge-based negotiation procedure where protocols and strategies are separated enabling reusability and thus enabling agent participation in interaction processes without the need of reprogramming. In addition, we present the integration of this methodology into a multi-agent knowledge-based framework and next a use case scenario using the contract net protocol that demonstrates the added value of the approach.
4 citations
10 Dec 2013
TL;DR: A novel multi-agent planning framework that attempts to deal with dynamic nature of cyber physical system while planning is proposed and usefulness of the approach is shown in exploring different strategies and configurations of planning architecture.
Abstract: In this paper we propose a novel multi-agent planning framework that attempts to deal with dynamic nature of cyber physical system while planning and show usefulness of our approach in exploring different strategies and configurations of planning architecture. The proposed approach use multi-agent planners at different layers of abstraction to collaborate by using concepts of task sharing, brokering of task allocation, continuous adaptive planning and blackboard based multi-agent interaction.
4 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the development of the pilot plant of distributed intelligent management system for a microgrid and present key features of the data communication and management of the developed pilot plant such as the construction of mesh network using local wireless communication techniques, the autonomous agent coordination schemes using plug-and-play functions of agents and contract net protocol for decision-making.
Abstract: This paper describes the development of the pilot plant of distributed intelligent management system for a microgrid. For optimal control and management of microgrids, intelligent agents area applied to the microgrid management system. Each agent includes intelligent algorithms to make decisions on behalf of the corresponding microgrid entity such as distributed generators, local loads, and so on. To this end, each agent has its own resources to evaluate the system conditions by collecting local information and also communicating with other agents. This paper presents key features of the data communication and management of the developed pilot plant such as the construction of mesh network using local wireless communication techniques, the autonomous agent coordination schemes using plug-and-play functions of agents and contract net protocol (CNP) for decision-making. The performance of the pilot plant and developed algorithms are verified via real-time microgrid test bench based on hardware-in-the-loop simulation systems.
TL;DR: In this paper, an effort towards updating of a CNP in terms of its limitations of modifiability and communication overhead is made, which in turn will reduce the communication overhead of CNP, which is time taken by various agents using CNP to pass messages to each other.
Abstract: Coordination in multi-agent system is very essential, in order to perform complex tasks and lead MAS towards its goal. Also, the member agents of multi-agent system should be autonomous as well as collaborative to accomplish the complex task for which multi-agent system is designed specifically. Contract-Net Protocol (CNP) is one of the coordination mechanisms which is used by multi-agent systems which prefer coordination through interaction protocols. In order to overcome the limitations of conventional CNP, this paper proposes a modification in conventional CNP called updated-CNP. Updated-CNP is an effort towards updating of a CNP in terms of its limitations of modifiability and communication overhead. The limitation of the modification of tasks, if the task requirements change at any instance, corresponding to tasks which are allocated to contractor agents by manager agents is possible in our updated-CNP version, which was not possible in the case of conventional-CNP, as it has to be restarted in the case of task modification. This in turn will be reducing the communication overhead of CNP, which is time taken by various agents using CNP to pass messages to each other. For the illustration of the updated CNP, we have used a sound predator-prey case study.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a new communication technique among agents in MAS, which combines the advantages of both previous methods and avoids their disadvantages, and applied it to Hospital Management System that uses Multi Agents Systems.
Abstract: Multi Agent System (MAS) play a central role in the field of distributed artificial intelligence. MAS' applications go from electronic commerce, aircraft maintenance and business process management to e mail filtering. One of the important features in Multi Agent System is the communication among agent. The communication methods enable cooperation and coordination of agents in the system. The standard and important one is the Contract Net Protocol. Also, Round Contract method is created to overcome the limitations of Contract Net Protocol. This paper proposed a new communication technique among agents in MAS. This technique combines the advantages of both previous methods and avoids their disadvantages. All these techniques are applied To Hospital Management System that uses Multi Agents Systems. There is a comparison among these methods according to their performance.
TL;DR: Although flexibility can increase the opportunities to obtain additional orders, the distributed decision-making mechanism increases the competition among plants during the bidding process and plants should tradeoff these two aspects to make decisions about investments in flexibility.
Abstract: Due to the mismatch between the order of costumers and the production capacity resulting from demand uncertainty, product shortages or wastes of production capacity occur. In response, the subcontracting of production among the plants occurs to diminish the influence of this mismatch on expected profits. Using a small-and medium-sized firm industrial district, the decentralized decision-making process for flexibility investment is studied using the cooperative subcontracting mechanism based on a contract net protocol and is compared with centralized decision making on the flexibility investment problem. Through simulation, it is concluded that although flexibility can increase the opportunities to obtain additional orders, the distributed decision-making mechanism increases the competition among plants during the bidding process. Plants should tradeoff these two aspects to make decisions about investments in flexibility.
17 Nov 2013
TL;DR: The paper proposes a novel approach of generating online adaptive response in assisting search-and-rescue operations using situation awareness built from real-time heterogeneous spatio-temporal data streams.
Abstract: Cyber physical space is potentially hosting innumerable spatio-temporal data streams due to increasing use of social networking platforms as real-time information dissemination system and world-wide deployment of sensors for continuous monitoring of physical phenomena. In this paper we address the problem of how cyber physical space can be used for sensing and responding to global calamities such as earthquake. The paper proposes a novel approach of generating online adaptive response in assisting search-and-rescue operations using situation awareness built from real-time heterogeneous spatio-temporal data streams. Online adaptive response is achieved by using agent-based cooperative task sharing and modeling agent decision making as self-organized emergent behavior based on concepts of complex adaptive system. An implemented simulation platform use concepts of situation modeling, domain task network, contract net protocol based negotiation and complex adaptive system to generate adaptive plans. Preliminary simulation results are promising as we have been able to demonstrate a repertoire of self-organized emergent behaviors.
25 Mar 2013
TL;DR: This paper proposes an analyzable negotiation model between service clients and providers, in the recently introduced language REMES and its corresponding textual service composition language HDCL, and shows how to analyze the negotiation model against timing, cost and utility constraints, by transforming it into the Timed Automata formal framework.
Abstract: Negotiation is a key aspect of Service-Oriented Systems, which is rarely supported by formal models and tools for analysis. Often, service negotiation proceeds with timing, cost and resource constraints, under which the users and providers exchange information on their respective goals, until reaching a consensus. Consequently, a mathematically driven technique to analyze various ways to achieve such goals is beneficial. In this paper, we propose an analyzable negotiation model between service clients and providers, in our recently introduced language REMES and its corresponding textual service composition language HDCL. The model can be viewed as a negotiation interface for different negotiation strategies and protocols, which iterates until an agreement is reached. We show how to analyze the negotiation model against timing, cost and utility constraints, by transforming it into the Timed Automata formal framework. We illustrate our approach through an insurance scenario assuming a form of the Contract Net Protocol for web services.
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: This work extends CNTEP and incorporates reliability computation component in it, which is a variation of CNP involving trust establishment feature into it, termed as Contract Net Trust Establishment Protocol (CNTEP).
Abstract: Contract Net Protocol (CNP) is FIPA standardized high level communication protocol which specifies the way software agents should follow while communicating. However it lacks methods for ensuring trust and reliability of the agents participating in the communication. In an earlier paper authors proposed a variation of CNP involving trust establishment feature into it, termed as Contract Net Trust Establishment Protocol (CNTEP). However, efficient communication can not be ensured unless the communicating counterpart is reliable. This fact provided the motivation for the present work, which extends CNTEP and incorporates reliability computation component in it.
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, the research status between foreign and domestic study progresses on the coordination mechanism and method (such as coordination based on Lagrange relaxationation method, co- ordination based on contract net protocol, coordinationbased on Petri net, coordination based based on biological hor- mone and pheromone, and so on) is given.
Abstract: Good coordination mechanism will play a crucial role in improving the agility, adaptability and robustness of manufacturing systems in dynamically changing manufacturing systems environment. Based on the significance of co- ordination mechanism for intelligent manufacturing system, the research status between foreign and domestic study progresses on the coordination mechanism and method (such as coordination based on Lagrange Relaxation method, co- ordination based on contract net protocol, coordination based on Petri Net, coordination based on biological hor- mone and pheromone, and so on) is given, some existent problems for coordination mechanism in existent research methods presently are pointed out. Finally, the future research trends of the coordination mechanism and methods for intelligent manufacturing system are presented.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, an effort towards updating of a CNP in terms of its limitations of modifiability and communication overhead is made, which in turn will reduce the communication overhead of CNP, which is time taken by various agents using CNP to pass messages to each other.
Abstract: Coordination in multi-agent system is very essential, in order to perform complex tasks and lead MAS towards its goal. Also, the member agents of multi-agent system should be autonomous as well as collaborative to accomplish the complex task for which multi-agent system is designed specifically. Contract-Net Protocol (CNP) is one of the coordination mechanisms which is used by multi-agent systems which prefer coordination through interaction protocols. In order to overcome the limitations of conventional CNP, this paper proposes a modification in conventional CNP called updated-CNP. Updated-CNP is an effort towards updating of a CNP in terms of its limitations of modifiability and communication overhead. The limitation of the modification of tasks, if the task requirements change at any instance, corresponding to tasks which are allocated to contractor agents by manager agents is possible in our updated-CNP version, which was not possible in the case of conventional-CNP, as it has to be restarted in the case of task modification. This in turn will be reducing the communication overhead of CNP, which is time taken by various agents using CNP to pass messages to each other. For the illustration of the updated CNP, we have used a sound predator-prey case study.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The result shows the well performance of the task assignment method, which can fulfill the requirement of cooperative air combat.
Abstract: Task assignment method plays a key role in manned /unmanned aerial vehicle formation cooperative air combat.Firstly,a task decomposition method with constraint of timing sequential was presented.Then,the task assignment model was established based on the improved Contract Net Protocol(CNP).The task assignment efficiency was enhanced by adopting the acquaintance model.The timing sequence task was processed by adopting the task validity parameter and blackboard mechanism.Finally,simulation was carried out based on the CNP task assignment model,the result shows the well performance of the task assignment method,which can fulfill the requirement of cooperative air combat.
TL;DR: In this article, an agent based holonic system comprising product holon, resource holon and integrated process planning and scheduling holon is developed to execute a customer order where negotiation based task allocation and scheduling is accomplished by Contract Net Protocol (CNP), the bids submitted by the resources are evaluated by Simple Additive Weight (SAW) technique under Fuzzy Multi Criteria Decision Making (FMCDM) environment.
Abstract: A B S T R A C T A R T I C L E I N F O The present paper is aimed at implementation of agent based holonic man ufacturing control, a Distributed Problem Solving (DPS) approach that relies on the principle of dynamic team formation through negotiation and cooperation by a group of intelligent system entities. A holonic system comprising product holon, resource holon, and integrated process planning and scheduling holon is developed to execute a customer order where negotiation based task allocation and scheduling is accomplished by Contract Net Protocol (CNP). The bids submitted by the resources are evaluated by Simple Additive Weight (SAW) technique under Fuzzy Multi Criteria Decision Making (FMCDM) environment. The priority of the products is established by the critical ratios (CR) to form the basis of scheduling rule. The necessary message based communication is accomplished using eXtensible Markup Language (XML) having specific Document Type Definition (DTD). The control is implemented by Linux operating system with Java.
TL;DR: A mobile cloud computing architecture based on mobile Agent paradigm for the problems faced by the mobile cloud Computing, for example, application migration on network, network latency and non-persistent connection issues caused by execution on the remote device, cloud-crossed service problems, and security risks and privacy issues is proposed.
Abstract: This paper proposed a mobile cloud computing architecture based on mobile Agent paradigm for the problems faced by the mobile cloud computing, for example, application migration on network, network latency and non-persistent connection issues caused by execution on the remote device, cloud-crossed service problems, and security risks and privacy issues. In this architecture, Contract Net Protocol is optimized and used in the synergy among the mobile Agent. Mobile Agent is authenticated by exchanging keys, where the exchange key uses ideas of quantum teleportation based on multiple particle orthonormal direct product state. Furthermore this paper describes the workflow of this architecture by colored nested Petri nets.
01 Oct 2013
TL;DR: Tests showed that amount of communication in manager is less and the task is assigned more effectively by the contract net schedule algorithm based on medium pattern.
Abstract: Contract net schedule algorithm based on medium pattern was proposed. In this algorithm, manager provides information service for contractor and task agent as medium during releasing contract. Contractor and task agent evaluate each other according to its evaluation function and then select the suitable object. Compared with traditional contract net, the algorithm in which task is regarded as agent reduces the communication and load between manager and contractor. Besides, task executing time is cut down. At last, taking the production schedule for example verifies this algorithm. Tests showed that amount of communication in manager is less and the task is assigned more effectively by the contract net schedule algorithm based on medium pattern.
TL;DR: The paper adopts a management method of combining the centralization and distribution and classifies the functions of the agent and analyses what the members are and their cooperative relation and designs the MA cooperative operation control scheme on EDP.
Abstract: For numerous public security business systems, public security business's limitation of lack of system integration, uncentralized management, lower intelligence technology more prominent. Through the analysis of the relevant features of Emergency Disposal Platform (EDP) and the collaborative, think its collaboration with Multi - agent have a strong fit. For this reason, based on the multi-agent technology, the platform architecture of EDP in the cooperative model is proposed. The platform integrates video analysis, integrated monitor and rescue in EDP, and has more powerful perceptiveness, initiative, and self-adaptability. The paper adopts a management method of combining the centralization and distribution and classifies the functions of the agent and analyses what the members are and their cooperative relation. In addition, with the research on coordination mechanism by using of Blackboard Model and Contract Net Protocol, the MA cooperative operation control scheme on EDP is designed.
01 Jul 2013
TL;DR: A new further step to the adaptations is introduced to obtain fully distributed bid selection in the task selection process to adapt the conventional CNP with potential performance advantages.
Abstract: The contract net protocol (CNP) is widely adopted in agent-based systems for task allocation in a distributed environment. Conventional CNP requires only simple messaging services such as direct addressing and broadcasting. Publish/subscribe (P/S) is a highly flexible middleware-based messaging service for distributed applications. Previous experiments on incorporating P/S into agent-based systems for task allocation have shown interesting ways to adapt the conventional CNP with potential performance advantages. The paper first reviews some previous adaptations to CNP in generic terms without any application details. It then introduces a new further step to the adaptations to obtain fully distributed bid selection in the task selection process.
26 Aug 2013
TL;DR: A integrated contract net protocol suitable for CGF collaboration is proposed in which strategies such as interaction trust, witness trust and threshold value are integrated.
Abstract: Computer Generated Forces (CGF) lacks an effective collaboration method. As a result of this, Based on the traditional contract net protocol, a integrated contract net protocol suitable for CGF collaboration is proposed in which strategies such as interaction trust, witness trust and threshold value are integrated. In order to ensure integrity, correctness and reliability of integrated contract net protocol, formalized method colored net is used to model integrated contract net protocol and liveness, accessibility and bound ness of protocol are analyzed and validated. Finally, integrated contract net protocol is applied to collaboration simulation of missile attack and defense CGF system. Simulation results show that integrated contract net protocol effectively reduces communication cost of collaboration and increases completion task rate of system.
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this article, an agent based holonic manufacturing control, a Distributed Problem Solving (DPS) approach that relies on the principle of dynamic team formation through negotiation and cooperation by a group of intelligent system entities, is presented.
Abstract: The present paper is aimed at implementation of agent based holonic manufacturing control, a Distributed Problem Solving (DPS) approach that relies on the principle of dynamic team formation through negotiation and cooperation by a group of intelligent system entities. A holonic system comprising product holon, resource holon, and integrated process planning and scheduling holon is developed to execute a customer order where negotiation based task allocation and scheduling is accomplished by Contract Net Protocol (CNP). The bids submitted by the resources are evaluated by Simple Additive Weight (SAW) technique under Fuzzy Multi Criteria Decision Making (FMCDM) environment. The priority of the products is established by the critical ratios (CR) to form the basis of scheduling rule. The necessary message based communication is accomplished using eXtensible Markup Language (XML) having specific Document Type Definition (DTD). The control is implemented by Linux operating system with Java. © 2013 PEI, University of Maribor. All rights reserved.
22 Jul 2013
TL;DR: This paper proposes a solution methodology for scheduling workflows in MAS that combines the multi-agent system architecture, contract net protocol and workflow models specified by Petri nets and develops a solution algorithm based on transformation of workflow model to network models.
Abstract: Workflow scheduling in multi-agent systems (MAS) is a challenging problem due to the computational complexity involved, distributed architecture and dependency of different agents' workflows. How to develop a problem solver that can be applied in MAS to achieve coherent and consistent workflow schedules that can meet a customer's order is an important issue. In this paper, we propose a solution methodology for scheduling workflows in MAS. Our solution combines the multi-agent system architecture, contract net protocol and workflow models specified by Petri nets. Our solution algorithm is developed based on transformation of workflow model to network models. A subgradient algorithm and a heuristic algorithm are applied to find the solutions. A problem solver for workflow scheduling in MAS has been implemented.
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: This chapter discusses the combinatorial variations of these parameters using a discrete-event simulation case study of the contract net protocol in the context of shop floor control applications.
Abstract: Global market competition has put intense pressure on the manufacturing industry to become more agile and responsive to market changes. Multi-agent systems (MAS) provide a decentralised control architecture that can reduce complexity, increase flexibility, and enhance fault tolerance for manufacturing systems. Shop floor control applications can be designed based on the paradigm of agent negotiation. This often involves the contract net protocol (CNP) and previous research has suggested that the timing parameters of CNP can affect significantly the performance of agent negotiation. This chapter discusses the combinatorial variations of these parameters using a discrete-event simulation case study.
01 Dec 2013
TL;DR: A heuristic approach of optimization which combines two concepts: agent and heuristics which is based on the use of the multi-agent negotiation, the contract net protocol, and a set of heuristic such as the WorstFit arrangement technique and the LPT policy to solve the problem of scheduling n tasks on m parallel identical machines.
Abstract: In this paper, we are interested in the modeling and the resolution of the dynamic and discrete berth allocation problem which is noted DDBAP. To resolve this problem, we propose a heuristic approach of optimization which combines two concepts: agent and heuristics. This approach is based on the use of the multi-agent negotiation, the contract net protocol, and a set of heuristics such as the WorstFit arrangement technique and the LPT policy. The objective of our work is then, to solve the problem of scheduling n tasks on m parallel identical machines. The criterion that we aim to minimize is the makespan (in analogy with the P∥Cmax problem) having a set of constraints to be satisfied. We developed our model of negotiation using the Jade platform. We finish this work by presenting various simulations to show the performance of the proposed heuristic and the contribution of our approach compared to other already existing approaches.