A Game-Theoretic Approach to Distributed Scheduling of Rigid Demands on Dynamical Systems

Abstract

A game-theoretic approach to load scheduling is explored within the context of constrained discrete-time linear time-invariant dynamical systems. Rigidity of individual load inputs dictates that it is only possible to translate the corresponding signals back-and-forth in time in order to form a feasible schedule. A game is devised to encode the trade-off between user sensitivities to shifts from the requested load and the need to respect constraints on the dynamic response of the system over a planning horizon. The optimal schedule is an equilibrium of the game for an appropriately selected pricing scheme. As such, learning algorithms can be used to devise distributed algorithms for recoveri..