Reliable resources brokering scheme in wireless grids based on non-cooperative bargaining game

Abstract

Wireless computational grids are evolving due to rapid growth in wireless devices to provide any time any where computing and communication services. Wireless devices are considered as important resources for job execution in a wireless grid. However, they are unreliable due to unstable wireless connections, frequent mobility, and device resource constraints such as limited processing capacity, limited battery life, low communication bandwidth, etc. Consumers and providers in a wireless grid have potential conflicting interests: consumers prefer reliable resources at minimum cost for job execution whereas providers prefer efficient utilization of resources with a maximum profit. Hence it is necessary to design a resource brokering mechanism that assures job(s) execution and satisfies needs of consumers and providers. This paper proposes a software agent based resource brokering scheme that employs a resource brokering agency consisting of a set of software agents which discover and recommend reliable devices, negotiate resource cost using non-cooperative bargaining game, and schedule jobs. Device reliability is modeled by using parameters like processing rate, memory, bandwidth and battery power. Discount function is employed in bargaining game based on job deadline, previous offers of an opponent, and dynamics in the grid market. Adaptive negotiation process is applied by exercising different discount strategies (aggressive or conservative or linear) based on the negotiation status of a player. The scheme is simulated to evaluate performance parameters like resource utilization rate, expected profit, job completion time and job execution rate. We observed that the proposed scheme performs better than the existing resource brokering scheme.