Networked Agents in the Dark: Team Value Learning under Partial Observability

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Varela, Guilherme S., Sardinha, Alberto, Melo, Francisco S.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Varela, Guilherme S.
Sardinha, Alberto
Melo, Francisco S.
author_facet Varela, Guilherme S.
Sardinha, Alberto
Melo, Francisco S.
contents We propose a novel cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) approach for networked agents. In contrast to previous methods that rely on complete state information or joint observations, our agents must learn how to reach shared objectives under partial observability. During training, they collect individual rewards and approximate a team value function through local communication, resulting in cooperative behavior. To describe our problem, we introduce the networked dynamic partially observable Markov game framework, where agents communicate over a switching topology communication network. Our distributed method, DNA-MARL, uses a consensus mechanism for local communication and gradient descent for local computation. DNA-MARL increases the range of the possible applications of networked agents, being well-suited for real world domains that impose privacy and where the messages may not reach their recipients. We evaluate DNA-MARL across benchmark MARL scenarios. Our results highlight the superior performance of DNA-MARL over previous methods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_08778
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Networked Agents in the Dark: Team Value Learning under Partial Observability
Varela, Guilherme S.
Sardinha, Alberto
Melo, Francisco S.
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Multiagent Systems
I.2.6; I.2.11
We propose a novel cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) approach for networked agents. In contrast to previous methods that rely on complete state information or joint observations, our agents must learn how to reach shared objectives under partial observability. During training, they collect individual rewards and approximate a team value function through local communication, resulting in cooperative behavior. To describe our problem, we introduce the networked dynamic partially observable Markov game framework, where agents communicate over a switching topology communication network. Our distributed method, DNA-MARL, uses a consensus mechanism for local communication and gradient descent for local computation. DNA-MARL increases the range of the possible applications of networked agents, being well-suited for real world domains that impose privacy and where the messages may not reach their recipients. We evaluate DNA-MARL across benchmark MARL scenarios. Our results highlight the superior performance of DNA-MARL over previous methods.
title Networked Agents in the Dark: Team Value Learning under Partial Observability
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Multiagent Systems
I.2.6; I.2.11
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.08778