Negotiation criteria for multiagent resource allocation

Negotiation in a multiagent system is a topic of active interest for enabling the allocation of scarce resources among autonomous agents. A discussion of the research puts in context the contributions to resource allocation from the fields of economics, mathematics, and multiagent systems. We group the criteria based on how they relate to each other as well as their historical context. In addition, we present three new criteria: verifiability, dimensionality, and topology. The category of allocation criteria relates to issues of fairness and envy-freeness with respect to portions allocated to agents. The category of protocol criteria presents issues related to stability, strategy-proofness, and communication costs. The category of criteria for procedures discusses the complexity issues of allocation procedures. The category of criteria for resources discusses the properties that various resources can take and how they affect allocation. Finally we conclude with a discussion of the criteria for agent utility functions. The overall objective of this paper is to create a starting point for protocol engineering for future negotiation designers.