Privacy Management and Optimal Pricing in People-Centric Sensing

With the emerging sensing technologies such as mobile crowdsensing and Internet of Things (IoT), people-centric data can be efficiently collected and used for analytics and optimization purposes. This data is typically required to develop and render people-centric services. In this paper, we address the privacy implication, optimal pricing, and bundling of people-centric services. We first define the inverse correlation between the service quality and privacy level from data analytics perspectives. We then present the profit maximization models of selling standalone, complementary, and substitute services. Specifically, the closed-form solutions of the optimal privacy level and subscription fee are derived to maximize the gross profit of service providers. For interrelated people-centric services, we show that cooperation by service bundling of complementary services is profitable compared to the separate sales but detrimental for substitutes. We also show that the market value of a service bundle is correlated with the degree of contingency between the interrelated services. Finally, we incorporate the profit sharing models from game theory for dividing the bundling profit among the cooperative service providers.Comment: 16 page

Dynamic capacity provision for wireless sensors connectivity: A profit optimization approach

[EN] We model a wireless sensors' connectivity scenario mathematically and analyze it using capacity provision mechanisms, with the objective of maximizing the profits of a network operator. The scenario has several sensors' clusters with each one having one sink node, which uploads the sensing data gathered in the cluster through the wireless connectivity of a network operator. The scenario is analyzed both as a static game and as a dynamic game, each one with two stages, using game theory. The sinks' behavior is characterized with a utility function related to the mean service time and the price paid to the operator for the service. The objective of the operator is to maximize its profits by optimizing the network capacity. In the static game, the sinks' subscription decision is modeled using a population game. In the dynamic game, the sinks' behavior is modeled using an evolutionary game and the replicator dynamic, while the operator optimal capacity is obtained solving an optimal control problem. The scenario is shown feasible from an economic point of view. In addition, the dynamic capacity provision optimization is shown as a valid mechanism for maximizing the operator profits, as well as a useful tool to analyze evolving scenarios. Finally, the dynamic analysis opens the possibility to study more complex scenarios using the differential game extension.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through project TIN2013-47272-C2-1-R; AEI/FEDER, UE through project TEC2017-85830-C2-1-P; and co-supported by the European Social Fund BES-2014-068998.Sanchis-Cano, Á.; Guijarro, L.; Condoluci, M. (2018). Dynamic capacity provision for wireless sensors connectivity: A profit optimization approach. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks (Online). 14(4):1-14. https://doi.org/10.1177/1550147718772544S114144Weiser, M. (1991). The Computer for the 21st Century. Scientific American, 265(3), 94-104. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0991-94Gubbi, J., Buyya, R., Marusic, S., & Palaniswami, M. (2013). Internet of Things (IoT): A vision, architectural elements, and future directions. Future Generation Computer Systems, 29(7), 1645-1660. doi:10.1016/j.future.2013.01.010Perera, C., Zaslavsky, A., Christen, P., & Georgakopoulos, D. (2013). Sensing as a service model for smart cities supported by Internet of Things. Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies, 25(1), 81-93. doi:10.1002/ett.2704Wang, N., Hossain, E., & Bhargava, V. K. (2016). Joint Downlink Cell Association and Bandwidth Allocation for Wireless Backhauling in Two-Tier HetNets With Large-Scale Antenna Arrays. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 15(5), 3251-3268. doi:10.1109/twc.2016.2519401Chowdhury, M. Z., Jang, Y. M., & Haas, Z. J. (2013). Call admission control based on adaptive bandwidth allocation for wireless networks. Journal of Communications and Networks, 15(1), 15-24. doi:10.1109/jcn.2013.000005Nan, G., Mao, Z., Yu, M., Li, M., Wang, H., & Zhang, Y. (2014). Stackelberg Game for Bandwidth Allocation in Cloud-Based Wireless Live-Streaming Social Networks. IEEE Systems Journal, 8(1), 256-267. doi:10.1109/jsyst.2013.2253420Zhu, K., Niyato, D., Wang, P., & Han, Z. (2012). Dynamic Spectrum Leasing and Service Selection in Spectrum Secondary Market of Cognitive Radio Networks. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 11(3), 1136-1145. doi:10.1109/twc.2012.010312.110732Vamvakas, P., Tsiropoulou, E. E., & Papavassiliou, S. (2017). Dynamic Provider Selection & Power Resource Management in Competitive Wireless Communication Markets. Mobile Networks and Applications, 23(1), 86-99. doi:10.1007/s11036-017-0885-yNiyato, D., Hoang, D. T., Luong, N. C., Wang, P., Kim, D. I., & Han, Z. (2016). Smart data pricing models for the internet of things: a bundling strategy approach. IEEE Network, 30(2), 18-25. doi:10.1109/mnet.2016.7437020Guijarro, L., Pla, V., Vidal, J. R., & Naldi, M. (2016). Maximum-Profit Two-Sided Pricing in Service Platforms Based on Wireless Sensor Networks. IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, 5(1), 8-11. doi:10.1109/lwc.2015.2487259Romero, J., Guijarro, L., Pla, V., & Vidal, J. R. (2017). Price competition between a macrocell and a small-cell service provider with limited resources and optimal bandwidth user subscription: a game-theoretical model. Telecommunication Systems, 67(2), 195-209. doi:10.1007/s11235-017-0331-2Al Daoud, A., Alanyali, M., & Starobinski, D. (2010). Pricing Strategies for Spectrum Lease in Secondary Markets. IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, 18(2), 462-475. doi:10.1109/tnet.2009.2031176Do, C. T., Tran, N. H., Huh, E.-N., Hong, C. S., Niyato, D., & Han, Z. (2016). Dynamics of service selection and provider pricing game in heterogeneous cloud market. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 69, 152-165. doi:10.1016/j.jnca.2016.04.012Tsiropoulou, E. E., Vamvakas, P., & Papavassiliou, S. (2017). Joint Customized Price and Power Control for Energy-Efficient Multi-Service Wireless Networks via S-Modular Theory. IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking, 1(1), 17-28. doi:10.1109/tgcn.2017.2678207Sanchis-Cano, A., Romero, J., Sacoto-Cabrera, E., & Guijarro, L. (2017). Economic Feasibility of Wireless Sensor Network-Based Service Provision in a Duopoly Setting with a Monopolist Operator. Sensors, 17(12), 2727. doi:10.3390/s17122727Weber, T. A. (2011). Optimal Control Theory with Applications in Economics. doi:10.7551/mitpress/9780262015738.001.0001Mandjes, M. (2003). Pricing strategies under heterogeneous service requirements. Computer Networks, 42(2), 231-249. doi:10.1016/s1389-1286(03)00191-9Shariatmadari, H., Ratasuk, R., Iraji, S., Laya, A., Taleb, T., Jäntti, R., & Ghosh, A. (2015). Machine-type communications: current status and future perspectives toward 5G systems. IEEE Communications Magazine, 53(9), 10-17. doi:10.1109/mcom.2015.7263367Ng, C.-H., & Soong, B.-H. (2008). Queueing Modelling Fundamentals. doi:10.1002/9780470994672Mendelson, H. (1985). Pricing computer services: queueing effects. Communications of the ACM, 28(3), 312-321. doi:10.1145/3166.3171Altman, E., Boulogne, T., El-Azouzi, R., Jiménez, T., & Wynter, L. (2006). A survey on networking games in telecommunications. Computers & Operations Research, 33(2), 286-311. doi:10.1016/j.cor.2004.06.005Belleflamme, P., & Peitz, M. (2015). Industrial Organization. doi:10.1017/cbo9781107707139Reynolds, S. S. (1987). Capacity Investment, Preemption and Commitment in an Infinite Horizon Model. International Economic Review, 28(1), 69. doi:10.2307/2526860Barron, E. N. (2013). Game Theory. doi:10.1002/9781118547168Sandholm, W. (2009). Pairwise Comparison Dynamics and Evolutionary Foundations for Nash Equilibrium. Games, 1(1), 3-17. doi:10.3390/g1010003Schlag, K. H. (1998). Why Imitate, and If So, How? Journal of Economic Theory, 78(1), 130-156. doi:10.1006/jeth.1997.234

Is re-farming the answer to the spectrum shortage conundrum?

Radio spectrum has become one of the engines of economic growth. However, rapid technological change, ever increasing demands for new wireless services and the nature of spectrum as a scarce resource necessitate an urgent re-examination of issues such as congestion and interference. This paper argues that the traditional administrative spectrum management approach is unlikely to overcome these issues, thereby resulting in growing technical and economic inefficiencies. As countries review their spectrum policies - a process that is generically referred to as radio spectrum policy reform - to counter these inefficiencies, modifications to the radio frequency allocations and assignments are beginning to be implemented by way of radio spectrum re-farming? This phenomenon forms the subject matter of this paper

Economic analysis of wireless sensor-based services in the framework of the Internet of Things. A game-theoretical approach

El mundo de las telecomunicaciones está cambiando de un escenario donde únicamente las personas estaban conectadas a un modelo donde prácticamente todos los dispositivos y sensores se encuentran conectados, también conocido como Internet de las cosas (IoT), donde miles de millones de dispositivos se conectarán a Internet a través de conexiones móviles y redes fijas. En este contexto, hay muchos retos que superar, desde el desarrollo de nuevos estándares de comunicación al estudio de la viabilidad económica de los posibles escenarios futuros. En esta tesis nos hemos centrado en el estudio de la viabilidad económica de diferentes escenarios mediante el uso de conceptos de microeconomía, teoría de juegos, optimización no lineal, economía de redes y redes inalámbricas. La tesis analiza la transición desde redes centradas en el servicio de tráfico HTC a redes centradas en tráfico MTC desde un punto de vista económico. El primer escenario ha sido diseñado para centrarse en las primeras etapas de la transición, en la que ambos tipos de tráfico son servidos bajo la misma infraestructura de red. En el segundo escenario analizamos la siguiente etapa, en la que el servicio a los usuarios MTC se realiza mediante una infraestructura dedicada. Finalmente, el tercer escenario analiza la provisión de servicios basados en MTC a usuarios finales, mediante la infraestructura analizada en el escenario anterior. Gracias al análisis de todos los escenarios, hemos observado que la transición de redes centradas en usuarios HTC a redes MTC es posible y que la provisión de servicios en tales escenarios es viable. Además, hemos observado que el comportamiento de los usuarios es esencial para determinar la viabilidad de los diferentes modelos de negocio, y por tanto, es necesario estudiar el comportamiento y las preferencias de los usuarios en profundidad en estudios futuros. Específicamente, los factores más relevantes son la sensibilidad de los usuarios al retardo en los datos recopilados por los sensores y la cantidad de los mismos. También hemos observado que la diferenciación del tráfico en categorías mejora el uso de las redes y permite crear nuevos servicios empleando datos que, de otro modo, no se aprovecharían, lo cual nos permite mejorar la monetización de la infraestructura. También hemos demostrado que la provisión de capacidad es un mecanismo válido, alternativo a la fijación de precios, para la optimización de los beneficios de los proveedores de servicio. Finalmente, se ha demostrado que es posible crear roles específicos para ofrecer servicios IoT en el mercado de las telecomunicaciones, específicamente, los IoT-SPs, que proporcionan servicios basados en sensores inalámbricos utilizando infraestructuras de acceso de terceros y sus propias redes de sensores. En resumen, en esta tesis hemos intentado demostrar la viabilidad económica de modelos de negocio basados en redes futuras IoT, así como la aparición de nuevas oportunidades y roles de negocio, lo cual nos permite justificar económicamente el desarrollo y la implementación de las tecnologías necesarias para ofrecer servicios de acceso inalámbrico masivo a dispositivos MTC.The communications world is moving from a standalone devices scenario to a all-connected scenario known as Internet of Things (IoT), where billions of devices will be connected to the Internet through mobile and fixed networks. In this context, there are several challenges to face, from the development of new standards to the study of the economical viability of the different future scenarios. In this dissertation we have focused on the study of the economic viability of different scenarios using concepts of microeconomics, game theory, non-linear optimization, network economics and wireless networks. The dissertation analyzes the transition from a Human Type Communications (HTC) to a Machine Type Communications (MTC) centered network from an economic point of view. The first scenario is designed to focus on the first stages of the transition, where HTC and MTC traffic are served on a common network infrastructure. The second scenario analyzes the provision of connectivity service to MTC users using a dedicated network infrastructure, while the third stage is centered in the analysis of the provision of services based on the MTC data over the infrastructure studied in the previous scenario. Thanks to the analysis of all the scenarios we have observed that the transition from HTC users-centered networks to MTC networks is possible and that the provision of services in such scenarios is viable. In addition, we have observed that the behavior of the users is essential in order to determine the viability of a business model, and therefore, it is needed to study their behavior and preferences in depth in future studios. Specifically, the most relevant factors are the sensitivity of the users to the delay and to the amount of data gathered by the sensors. We also have observed that the differentiation of the traffic in categories improves the usage of the networks and allows to create new services thanks to the data that otherwise would not be used, improving the monetization of the infrastructure and the data. In addition, we have shown that the capacity provision is a valid mechanism for providers' profit optimization, as an alternative to the pricing mechanisms. Finally, it has been demonstrated that it is possible to create dedicated roles to offer IoT services in the telecommunications market, specifically, the IoT-SPs, which provide wireless-sensor-based services to the final users using a third party infrastructure. Summarizing, this dissertation tries to demonstrate the economic viability of the future IoT networks business models as well as the emergence of new business opportunities and roles in order to justify economically the development and implementation of the new technologies required to offer massive wireless access to machine devices.El món de les telecomunicacions està canviant d'un escenari on únicament les persones estaven connectades a un model on pràcticament tots els dispositius i sensors es troben connectats, també conegut com a Internet de les Coses (IoT) , on milers de milions de dispositius es connectaran a Internet a través de connexions mòbils i xarxes fixes. En aquest context, hi ha molts reptes que superar, des del desenrotllament de nous estàndards de comunicació a l'estudi de la viabilitat econòmica dels possibles escenaris futurs. En aquesta tesi ens hem centrat en l'estudi de la viabilitat econòmica de diferents escenaris per mitjà de l'ús de conceptes de microeconomia, teoria de jocs, optimització no lineal, economia de xarxes i xarxes inalàmbriques. La tesi analitza la transició des de xarxes centrades en el servici de tràfic HTC a xarxes centrades en tràfic MTC des d'un punt de vista econòmic. El primer escenari ha sigut dissenyat per a centrar-se en les primeres etapes de la transició, en la que ambdós tipus de tràfic són servits davall la mateixa infraestructura de xarxa. En el segon escenari analitzem la següent etapa, en la que el servici als usuaris MTC es realitza per mitjà d'una infraestructura dedicada. Finalment, el tercer escenari analitza la provisió de servicis basats en MTC a usuaris finals, per mitjà de la infraestructura analitzada en l'escenari anterior. Als paràgrafs següents es descriu amb més detall cada escenari. Gràcies a l'anàlisi de tots els escenaris, hem observat que la transició de xarxes centrades en usuaris HTC a xarxes MTC és possible i que la provisió de servicis en tals escenaris és viable. A més a més, hem observat que el comportament dels usuaris és essencial per a determinar la viabilitat dels diferents models de negoci, i per tant, és necessari estudiar el comportament i les preferències dels usuaris en profunditat en estudis futurs. Específicament, els factors més rellevants són la sensibilitat dels usuaris al retard en les dades recopilats pels sensors i la quantitat dels mateixos. També hem observat que la diferenciació del tràfic en categories millora l'ús de les xarxes i permet crear nous servicis emprant dades que, d'una altra manera, no s'aprofitarien, la qual cosa ens permet millorar la monetització de la infraestructura. També hem demostrat que la provisió de capacitat és un mecanisme vàlid, alternatiu a la fixació de preus, per a l'optimització dels beneficis dels proveïdors de servici. Finalment, s'ha demostrat que és possible crear rols específics per a oferir servicis IoT en el mercat de les telecomunicacions, específicament, els IoT-SPs, que proporcionen servicis basats en sensors inalàmbrics utilitzant infraestructures d'accés de tercers i les seues pròpies xarxes de sensors. En resum, en aquesta tesi hem intentat demostrar la viabilitat econòmica de models de negoci basats en xarxes futures IoT, així com l'aparició de noves oportunitats i rols de negoci, la qual cosa ens permet justificar econòmicament el desenrotllament i la implementació de les tecnologies necessàries per a oferir servicis d'accés inalàmbric massiu a dispositius MTC.Sanchis Cano, Á. (2018). Economic analysis of wireless sensor-based services in the framework of the Internet of Things. A game-theoretical approach [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/102642TESI