44773632
Satisficing Games
Optimization is a mathematical sophistication of the common sense view that decision makers ought to do the best they can, and leads to well known solution concepts for mathematical games. For multi-agent systems in naturalistic settings, however, uncertainty and complexity may subordinate optimal performance to the more moderate goals of functionality and robustness. Moderation is another common sense idea that can be made mathematically precise by defining a notion of comparative rationality, leading to a theory of satisficing games. Preferences in an m-agent satisficing game are characterized by a 2m-dimensional interdependence function, from which the joint m-dimensional gains and losses of the agent system can be derived and compared to determine the set of jointly satisficing decisions. This paradigm permits decision makers in the presence of uncertainty to consider multiple sets of possible actions and make decisions that are both robust and functional. Two well-known games, Prisoner's Dilemma and Battle of the Sexes, are analyzed from this, point of view.
12614052
Learning haptic feedback for guiding driver behavior
Information about the driving state can be conveyed to automobile drivers through force feedback signals sent via the pedals and steering wheel. Because the set of possible haptic signals and driver responses is huge, it is desirable to automatically learn which signals are most useful to drivers. Thus, it is instructive to explore how machine learning techniques can be used as a step in the design of a haptic interface system. In this paper, we present a learning algorithm that learns useful haptic feedback and apply the algorithm to learning feedback for automobile drivers. We present evidence to show that the algorithm is sensitive enough to learn useful feedback under some circumstances, but that its scope may be limited by people's ability to act as admittance controllers.
29722627
A theory of satisficing decisions and control
The existence of an optimal control policy and the techniques for finding it are grounded fundamentally in a global perspective. These techniques can be of limited value when the global behaviour of the system is difficult to characterize, as it may be when the system is nonlinear, when the input is constrained, or when only partial information is available regarding system dynamics or the environment. Satisficing control theory is an alternative approach that is compatible with the limited rationality associated with such systems. This theory is extended by the introduction of the notion of strong satisficing to provide a systematic procedure for the design of satisficing controls. The power of the satisficing approach is illustrated by applications to representative control problems.
43673902
Coordinated target assignment and intercept for unmanned air vehicles
Presents an end-to-end solution to the battlefield scenario where M unmanned air vehicles are assigned to strike N known targets, in the presence of dynamic threats. The problem is decomposed into the subproblems of (1) cooperative target assignment, (2) coordinated UAV intercept, (3) path planning, and (4) feasible trajectory generation. The design technique is based on a hierarchical approach to coordinated control. Detailed simulation results are presented.
13562077
Satisficing Equilibria: A Non-Classical Theory of Games and Decisions
Satisficing, or being “good enough,” is the fundamental obligation of rational decision makers. We cannot rationally choose an option, even when we do not know of anything better, unless we know it is good enough. Unfortunately, we are not often in the position of knowing that there could be no better option, and hence that the option must be good enough. A complete search through all logical possibilities is often impractical, particularly in multi-agent contexts, due to excessive computational difficulty, modeling complexity, and uncertainty. It can be equally impractical, if it is even possible, to determine the cost of the additional required search to find an option that is good enough. In a departure from the traditional notion of satisficing as a species of bounded rationality, satisficing is here redefined in terms of a notion of intrinsic rationality. Epistemic utility theory serves as the philosophical foundation of a new praxeological decision-making paradigm of satisficing equilibria that is applicable to both single- and multiple-agent scenarios. All interagent relationships are modeled by an interdependence function that explicitly accommodates both self and group interest, from which multilateral and unilateral selectability and rejectability mass functions can be derived and compared via the praxeic likelihood ratio test.
6463761
Snapshots for semantic maps
A significant area of research in mobile robotics is in the local representation of a remote environment. In order to include a human in a mobile robot task it becomes important to present the remote information efficiently to a human. A relatively new approach to information presentation is semantic maps. Semantic maps provide more detail about an environment than typical maps because they are augmented by icons or symbols that provide meaning for places or objects of interest. In this paper we present snapshot technology as a means to take pictures from the real world and store them in a semantic map. To make the snapshots and semantic map available to an operator, we identify and discuss general attributes for useful displays and present a mixed reality 3D interface that meets the requirements. The interface and snapshot technology are validated through experiments in real and simulated environments.
8504456
Notarized Federated Identity Management for Web Services
We propose a notarized federated identity management model that supports efficient user authentication when providers are unknown to each other. Our model introduces a notary service, owned by a trusted third-party, to dynamically notarize assertions generated by identity providers. An additional feature of our model is the avoidance of direct communications between identity providers and service providers, which provides improved privacy protection for users. We present an efficient implementation of our notarized federated identity management model based on the Secure Transaction Management System (STMS). We also give a practical solution for mitigating aspects of the identity theft problem and discuss its use in our notarized federated identity management model. The unique feature of our cryptographic solution is that it enables one to proactively prevent the leaking of secret identity information.
1926136
On the Complexity of Optimization Problems for 3-dimensional Convex Polyhedra and Decision Trees
Abstract We show that several well-known optimization problems involving 3-dimensional convex polyhedra and decision trees are NP-hard or NP-complete. One of the techniques we employ is a linear-time method for realizing a planar 3-connected triangulation as a convex polyhedron, which may be of independent interest.
8072064
Improved Combinatorial Group Testing Algorithms for Real-World Problem Sizes
We study practically efficient methods for performing combinatorial group testing. We present efficient nonadaptive and two-stage combinatorial group testing algorithms, which identify the at most $d$ items out of a given set of $n$ items that are defective, using fewer tests for all practical set sizes. For example, our two-stage algorithm matches the information-theoretic lower bound for the number of tests in a combinatorial group testing regimen.
17595222
Offset-Polygon Annulus Placement Problems
In this paper we address several variants of the polygon annulus placement problem: given an input polygon P and a set S of points, find an optimal placement of P that maximizes the number of points in S that fall in a certain annulus region defined by P and some offset distance δ > 0. We address the following variants of the problem: placement of a convex polygon as well as a simple polygon; placement by translation only, or by a translation and a rotation; off-line and on-line versions of the corresponding decision problems; and decision as well as optimization versions of the problems: We present efFicient algorithms in each case.
5913284
Persistent Authenticated Dictionaries and Their Applications
We introduce the notion of persistent authenticated dictionaries, that is, dictionaries where the user can make queries of the type "was element e in set S at time t?" and get authenticated answers. Applications include credential and certificate validation checking in the past (as in digital signatures for electronic contracts), digital receipts, and electronic tickets. We present two data structures that can efficiently support an infrastructure for persistent authenticated dictionaries, and we compare their performance.