On aggregate utility maximization based network management: challenges and possible approaches

Abstract

F.P. Kelly et. al. have proposed the aggregate utility maximization framework for fair bandwidth sharing among competing elastic demands. This paper advocates extending of the aggregate utility maximization framework for balancing a wide range of the conflicting requirements of the elastic users/contracts. An elastic user/contract is capable of adjusting not only its transmission rate, but also a wide range of burstiness and quality of service parameters as well as willingness to expend resources, such as battery power in a wireless network. The extended framework attempts to maximize the aggregate utility assuming that each elastic user/contract quantifies its preferences with respect to the contract parameters in terms of the individual utility function, and the aggregate utility is a sum of individual utilities of all users. Decentralized maximization of the aggregate utility leads to the minimum cost routing solution, typically with more than one feasible route having minimum cost among all feasible routes. The paper suggests that instability problems of such equal cost multipath routing can be alleviated with Optimized Multipath Shortest Path First (OMP-SPF) routing algorithm. The paper also discusses specific cases of network management solutions, including survivability of the network services and self-organization in a wireless network by resolving trade-offs between user willingness to transmit and depleting the battery power affecting the network life expectancy. Future efforts should be directed towards developing decentralized pricing schemes for complex contracts capable of maximizing the aggregate utility.