Dynamic-distributed decisions and sharing protocol for fair resource sharing in collaborative network

Abstract

This research addresses distributed decisions for dynamic partnership reformation to enhance fairness and efficiency among collaborative networked enterprises (CNEs). The aim of this research is to investigate a new sharing protocol (SP) to control CNEs. Most CNE studies are designed under a centralized SP. However, centralized SPs appear to be unfeasible or inadequate due to enterprises’ operating environments and local objectives; therefore, each CNE requires a distributed decision-making mechanism. Furthermore, market globalization and competition necessitate rapid responses to market changes and give rise to two major concerns about CNEs: (1) how can collaborations be rendered re-configurable to dynamically capture and adapt to market patterns; and (2) how can the resources of all CNEs be utilized fairly among enterprises, ensuring mutual benefits? Therefore, Dynamic-Distributed Sharing Protocol (D2SP), which is inspired by the principles of Collaborative Control Theory and Contract Net Protocol, is proposed to address these concerns. The performance of D2SP is evaluated by comparing with (1) static-centralized SP, (2) static-distributed SP, and (3) dynamic-centralized SP. The experimental results show that D2SP performs at least equally or better than centralized and static SPs in terms of total profit, fairness, scalability, and communication overhead.