Combinatorial Auction-Based Multiple Dynamic Mission Assignment

This paper proposes a combinatorial auction based approach to solving a multiple dynamic mission assignment (MDMA) problem. The problem presents itself in scenarios in which mobile nodes perform multiple missions, and the missions are supported by multiple nodes in a mobile ad hoc network. In this scenario, missions may dynamically arrive, may have to be completed at different times, and different numbers of members may be required for mission execution. The proposed MDMA protocol aims to minimize communication overhead caused by the mission assignment while maximizing each node's utilization (i.e., minimizing its idle time) and maximizing the fraction of mission completion over the initial missions given. We compare the proposed MDMA protocol with baseline mechanisms such as a single-item auction or a single-minded auction based on the above performance metrics.