Comparing Mediated and Unmediated Agent-Based Negotiation in Wi-Fi Channel Assignment

Channel allocation in dense Wi-Fi networks is a complex problem due to its nonlinear and exponentially sized solution space. Negotiating over this domain is a challenge, since it is difficult to estimate opponent’s utility. Based on our previous work in mediated techniques, we propose the first two fully-distributed multi-agent negotiations for Wi-Fi channel assignment. Both of them use a simulated annealing sampling process and a noisy model graph estimation. One is designed for Alternating Offers protocols, while the other uses the novel Multiple Offers Protocol for Multilateral Negotiations with Partial Consensus (MOPaC), with experimental promising features for our particular domain. Our experiments compare both proposals against their mediated counterparts, showing similar results on social welfare, Nash product and fairness, but improving privacy and communication overhead.