A Partial Decision Scheme for Local Search Algorithms for Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems

Local search algorithms are widely adopted in solving large-scale Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems (DCOPs). However, since each agent always makes its value decision based on the values of its neighbors in local search, those algorithms usually suffer from local premature convergence. More concretely, an agent cannot make a wise decision with poor values of its neighbors since its decision space is bound up with those poor values. In this paper, we propose a Partial Decision Scheme (PDS) to relax the decision space of an agent by ignoring the value of its neighbor which has the bad impact on its local benefits. The PDS comprises two partial decision processes: trigger partial decision and recursive partial decision. The former is iteratively performed by agents who cannot enhance their local benefits unilaterally to break out of potential local optima. The latter is recursively performed by neglected agents to improve global benefits. Besides, the trigger conditions along with a self-adaptive probability are introduced to control the use of PDS. The PDS can be easily applied to any local search algorithm to overcome its local premature convergence with a small additional overhead. In our theoretical analysis, we prove the feasibility and convergence of PDS. Moreover, the experimental results also demonstrate the superiority of the use of PDS in the typical local search algorithms over state-of-the-art local search algorithms.