Using Pareto optimality to coordinate distributed agents

Pareto optimality is a domain-independent property that can be used to coordinate distributed engineering agents. Within a model of design called Redux, some aspects of dependency-directed backtracking can be interpreted as tracking Pareto optimality. These concepts are implemented in a framework, called Next-Link, that coordinates legacy engineering systems. This framework allows existing software tools to communicate with each other and a Redux agent over the Internet. The functionality is illustrated with examples from the domain of electrical cable harness design.