1 research outputs found
Free Energy Approximations for CSMA networks
In this paper we study how to estimate the back-off rates in an idealized
CSMA network consisting of links to achieve a given throughput vector using
free energy approximations. More specifically, we introduce the class of
region-based free energy approximations with clique belief and present a closed
form expression for the back-off rates based on the zero gradient points of the
free energy approximation (in terms of the conflict graph, target throughput
vector and counting numbers). Next we introduce the size clique free
energy approximation as a special case and derive an explicit expression for
the counting numbers, as well as a recursion to compute the back-off rates. We
subsequently show that the size clique approximation coincides with a
Kikuchi free energy approximation and prove that it is exact on chordal
conflict graphs when . As a by-product these results provide us
with an explicit expression of a fixed point of the inverse generalized belief
propagation algorithm for CSMA networks. Using numerical experiments we compare
the accuracy of the novel approximation method with existing methods