User Preferences-Adaptive Dynamic Network Selection Approach in Cooperating Wireless Networks: A Game Theoretic Perspective

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel dynamic network selection mechanism in cooperative heterogeneous wireless networks considering both network and user perspective. This approach adopts a suitably defined utility function, which at the same time takes into account the users' importance for the considered attributes (i.e. offered bit rate, coverage prediction, preferred interface and price being charged) and the quality offered for these attributes by the available networks. The strength of this approach is its ability to allow users to dynamically change their preferences achieving better Quality of Service (QoS) whereas the network operator can also vary their controlling parameters (e.g. network re-configuration and network adjustment) dynamically to improve their benefits. The dynamics of network selection in cooperative wireless networks is modeled using an evolutionary game theory where an evolutionary equilibrium is sought as a solution to this game. The performance of the proposed dynamic network-selection algorithm is investigated and evaluated by using simulations.