ABSTRACT
This chapter explores dynamics of consensus formation among a group of adaptive agents whose states are modeled as Dempster–Shafer theoretic (DST) body of evidence (BoE). In the consensus analyses, notions from graph theory and Dempster–Shafer (DS) belief theory are utilized for modeling agent interactions and complex agent opinions that consist of numerous uncertainties, respectively. Convergence properties of the DST belief revision process under these conditions are then established utilizing the properties of paracontracting operators. A consensus scenario of a group of adaptive agents is usually characterized by individual agents having access only to imperfect information, absence of global control, decentralized evidence and communication impairments. When the communication among agents is asynchronous, spatial coupling alone is insufficient for convergence analysis. The graph of an asynchronous iteration can be used to analyze temporal coupling among fusion operators. The chapter illustrates the spatial and temporal coupling of agents.
