We study a decentralized dispatch coordination problem in a multi-agent supply chain setting with shared logistics capacity. We propose symmetric (identical) dispatch strategies for all agents, enabling efficient coordination without centralized control. Using a common information approach, we derive a dynamic programming solution that computes optimal symmetric dispatch strategies by transforming the multi-agent problem into a tractable dynamic program on the agents common information state. Simulation results demonstrate that our method significantly reduces coordination cost compared to baseline heuristics, including belief-based strategies and an always-dispatch policy. These findings highlight the benefits of combining symmetric strategy design with a common information-based dynamic programming framework for improving multi-agent coordination performance.

In the context of IoT deployments, a multitude of devices concurrently require network access to transmit data over a shared communication channel. Employing symmetric strategies can effectively facilitate the collaborative use of the communication medium among these devices. By adopting such strategies, devices collectively optimize their transmission parameters, resulting in minimized collisions and enhanced overall network throughput. Our primary focus centers on the formulation of symmetric (i.e., identical) strategies for the sensors, aiming to optimize a finite horizon team objective. The imposition of symmetric strategies introduces novel facets and complexities into the team problem. To address this, we embrace the common information approach and adapt it to accommodate the use of symmetric strategies. This adaptation yields a dynamic programming framework grounded in common information, wherein each step entails the minimization of a single function mapping from an agent's private information space to the space of probability distributions over possible actions. Our proposed policy/method incurs a reduced cumulative cost compared to other methods employing symmetric strategies, a point substantiated by our simulation results.

We consider a cooperative multi-agent system consisting of a team of agents with decentralized information. Our focus is on the design of symmetric (i.e. identical) strategies for the agents in order to optimize a finite horizon team objective. We start with a general information structure and then consider some special cases. The constraint of using symmetric strategies introduces new features and complications in the team problem. For example, we show in a simple example that randomized symmetric strategies may outperform deterministic symmetric strategies. We also discuss why some of the known approaches for reducing agents' private information in teams may not work under the constraint of symmetric strategies. We then adopt the common information approach for our problem and modify it to accommodate the use of symmetric strategies. This results in a common information based dynamic program where each step involves minimization over a single function from the space of an agent's private information to the space of probability distributions over actions. We present specialized models where private information can be reduced using simple dynamic program based arguments.