In this review, we present an analysis of the most used multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithms. Starting with the single-agent reinforcement learning algorithms, we focus on the most critical issues that must be taken into account in their extension to multi-agent scenarios. The analyzed algorithms were grouped according to their features. We present a detailed taxonomy of the main multi-agent approaches proposed in the literature, focusing on their related mathematical models. For each algorithm, we describe the possible application fields, while pointing out its pros and cons. The described multi-agent algorithms are compared in terms of the most important characteristics for multi-agent reinforcement learning applications—namely, nonstationarity, scalability, and observability. We also describe the most common benchmark environments used to evaluate the performances of the considered methods.

Smarter City: Smart Energy Grid based on Blockchain Technology

In this paper we propose an efficient hardware architecture that implements the Q-Learning algorithm, suitable for real-time applications. Its main features are low-power, high throughput and limited hardware resources. We also propose a technique based on approximated multipliers to reduce the hardware complexity of the algorithm. We implemented the design on a Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC ZCU106 Evaluation Kit. The implementation results are evaluated in terms of hardware resources, throughput and power consumption. The architecture is compared to the state of the art of Q-Learning hardware accelerators presented in the literature obtaining better results in speed, power and hardware resources. Experiments using different sizes for the Q-Matrix and different wordlengths for the fixed point arithmetic are presented. With a Q-Matrix of size 8×4 (8 bit data) we achieved a throughput of 222 MSPS (Mega Samples Per Second) and a dynamic power consumption of 37 mW, while with a Q-Matrix of size 256×16 (32 bit data) we achieved a throughput of 93 MSPS and a power consumption 611 mW. Due to the small amount of hardware resources required by the accelerator, our system is suitable for multi-agent IoT applications. Moreover, the architecture can be used to implement the SARSA (State-Action-Reward-State-Action) Reinforcement Learning algorithm with minor modifications.

In this work a novel architecture, named pseudo-softmax, to compute an approximated form of the softmax function is presented. This architecture can be fruitfully used in the last layer of Neural Networks and Convolutional Neural Networks for classification tasks, and in Reinforcement Learning hardware accelerators to compute the Boltzmann action-selection policy. The proposed pseudo-softmax design, intended for efficient hardware implementation, exploits the typical integer quantization of hardware-based Neural Networks obtaining an accurate approximation of the result. In the paper, a detailed description of the architecture is given and an extensive analysis of the approximation error is performed by using both custom stimuli and real-world Convolutional Neural Networks inputs. The implementation results, based on CMOS standard-cell technology, compared to state-of-the-art architectures show reduced approximation errors.

In the last few years, indoor localization has attracted researchers and commercial developers. Indeed, the availability of systems, techniques and algorithms for localization allows the improvement of existing communication applications and services by adding position information. Some examples can be found in the managing of people and/or robots for internal logistics in very large warehouses (e.g., Amazon warehouses, etc.). In this paper, we study and develop a system allowing the accurate indoor localization of people visiting a museum or any other cultural institution. We assume visitors are equipped with a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) device (commonly found in modern smartphones or in a small chipset), periodically transmitting packets, which are received by geolocalized BLE receivers inside the museum area. Collected packets are provided to the locator server to estimate the positions of the visitors inside the museum. The position estimation is based on a feed-forward neural network trained by a measurement campaign in the considered environment and on a non-linear least square algorithm. We also provide a strategy for deploying the BLE receivers in a given area. The performance results obtained from measurements show an achievable position estimate accuracy below 1 m.

E-health-IoT Universe: A Review