Dynamic traffic congestion pricing mechanism with user-centric considerations

Thesis: S.M. in Transportation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 85-95).In this thesis, we consider the problem of designing real-time traffic routing systems in urban areas. Optimal dynamic routing for multiple passengers is known to be computationally hard due to its combinatorial nature. To overcome this difficulty, we propose a novel mechanism called User-Centric Dynamic Pricing (UCDP) based on recent advances in algorithmic mechanism design. The mechanism allows for congestion-free traffic in general road networks with heterogeneous users, while satisfying each user's travel preference. The mechanism first informs whether a passenger should use public transportation or the road network. In the latter case, a passenger reports his maximum accepted travel time with a lower bound announced publicly by the road authority. The mechanism then assigns the passenger a path that matches with his preference given the current traffic condition in the network. The proposed mechanism introduces a fairness constrained shortest path (FCSP) problem with a special structure, thus enabling polynomial time computation of path allocation that maximizes the sequential social surplus and guarantees fairness among passengers. The tolls of paths are then computed according to marginal cost payments. We show that reporting true preference is a weakly dominant strategy. The performance of the proposed mechanism is demonstrated on several simulated routing experiments in comparison to user equilibrium and system optimum.by Kim Thien Bui.S.M. in Transportatio

Improving perceptual multimedia quality with an adaptable communication protocol

Copyrights @ 2005 University Computing Centre ZagrebInnovations and developments in networking technology have been driven by technical considerations with little analysis of the benefit to the user. In this paper we argue that network parameters that define the network Quality of Service (QoS) must be driven by user-centric parameters such as user expectations and requirements for multimedia transmitted over a network. To this end a mechanism for mapping user-oriented parameters to network QoS parameters is outlined. The paper surveys existing methods for mapping user requirements to the network. An adaptable communication system is implemented to validate the mapping. The architecture adapts to varying network conditions caused by congestion so as to maintain user expectations and requirements. The paper also surveys research in the area of adaptable communications architectures and protocols. Our results show that such a user-biased approach to networking does bring tangible benefits to the user

Congestion control in multi-serviced heterogeneous wireless networks using dynamic pricing

Includes bibliographical references.Service providers, (or operators) employ pricing schemes to help provide desired QoS to subscribers and to maintain profitability among competitors. An economically efficient pricing scheme, which will seamlessly integrate users’ preferences as well as service providers’ preferences, is therefore needed. Else, pricing schemes can be viewed as promoting social unfairness in the dynamically priced network. However, earlier investigations have shown that the existing dynamic pricing schemes do not consider the users’ willingness to pay (WTP) before the price of services is determined. WTP is the amount a user is willing to pay based on the worth attached to the service requested. There are different WTP levels for different subscribers due to the differences in the value attached to the services requested and demographics. This research has addressed congestion control in the heterogeneous wireless network (HWN) by developing a dynamic pricing scheme that efficiently incentivises users to utilize radio resources. The proposed Collaborative Dynamic Pricing Scheme (CDPS), which identifies the users and operators’ preference in determining the price of services, uses an intelligent approach for controlling congestion and enhancing both the users’ and operators’ utility. Thus, the CDPS addresses the congestion problem by firstly obtaining the users WTP from users’ historical response to price changes and incorporating the WTP factor to evaluate the service price. Secondly, it uses a reinforcement learning technique to illustrate how a price policy can be obtained for the enhancement of both users and operators’ utility, as total utility reward obtained increases towards a defined ‘goal state’

Addressing the Challenges in Federating Edge Resources

This book chapter considers how Edge deployments can be brought to bear in a global context by federating them across multiple geographic regions to create a global Edge-based fabric that decentralizes data center computation. This is currently impractical, not only because of technical challenges, but is also shrouded by social, legal and geopolitical issues. In this chapter, we discuss two key challenges - networking and management in federating Edge deployments. Additionally, we consider resource and modeling challenges that will need to be addressed for a federated Edge.Comment: Book Chapter accepted to the Fog and Edge Computing: Principles and Paradigms; Editors Buyya, Sriram