Access Games: A Game Theoretic Framework For Fair Bandwidth Sharing In Distributed Systems

In this dissertation, the central objective is to achieve fairness in bandwidth sharing amongst selfish users in a distributed system. Because of the inherent contention-based nature of the distributed medium access and the selfishness of the users, the distributed medium access is modeled as a non-cooperative game; designated as the Access Game. A p-CSMA type medium access scenario is proposed for all the users. Therefore, in the Access Game, each user has two actions to choose from: transmit and wait . The outcome of the Access Game and payoffs to each user depends on the actions taken by all the users. Further, the utility function of each user is constructed as a function of both Quality of Service (QoS) and Battery Power (BP). Various scenarios involving the relative importance of QoS and BP are considered. It is observed that, in general the Nash Equilibrium of the Access Game does not result into fairness. Therefore, Constrained Nash Equilibrium is proposed as a solution. The advantage of Constrained Nash Equilibrium is that it can be predicated on the fairness conditions and the solution will be guaranteed to result in fair sharing of bandwidth. However, Constrained Nash Equilibrium is that it is not self-enforcing. Therefore, two mechanisms are proposed to design the Access Game in such a way that in each case the Nash Equilibrium of the Access Game satisfies fairness and maximizes throughput. Hence, with any of these mechanisms the solution of the Access Game becomes self-enforcing

Design, analysis and implementation of integrated services networks.

by Wong, Chan-foon.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-67 (1st gp.)).Chapter Chapter I --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1Chapter 1.2 --- Traffic Characteristics --- p.2Chapter 1.3 --- Related Works --- p.5Chapter Chapter II --- Integrated Services Protocol (ISP) --- p.7Chapter 2.1 --- Ethernet --- p.7Chapter 2.2 --- ISP Description --- p.9Chapter 2.2.1 --- Voice Communications Characteristics --- p.9Chapter 2.2.2 --- Voice Packet Format --- p.12Chapter 2.2.3 --- Call Management --- p.13Chapter 2.4.4 --- Voice Packet Transmission Protocol --- p.14Chapter 2.4.5 --- Error Handling --- p.16Chapter Chapter III --- Protocol Studies --- p.17Chapter 3.1 --- Simulation Model And Parameters --- p.17Chapter 3.2 --- Voice Loss --- p.18Chapter 3.3 --- Data Delay --- p.20Chapter 3.4 --- Maximum Number Of Active Voice Stations --- p.22Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.23Chapter Chapter IV --- Implementation --- p.24Chapter 4.1 --- System Platform --- p.24Chapter 4.2 --- Integrated Services Adapter (ISA) --- p.25Chapter 4.2.1 --- Hardware Design --- p.26Chapter 4.3 --- Voice on Ethernet Adapter (VEA) --- p.29Chapter 4.3.1 --- Hardware Design --- p.29Chapter 4.3.2 --- Software Design --- p.31Chapter 4.3.2.1 --- Programming The VEA --- p.32Chapter 4.3.2.2 --- Software Development Under DOS --- p.35Chapter 4.3.2.3 --- Software Development Under Linux --- p.37Chapter 4.4 --- Summary --- p.41Chapter Chapter V --- Implementation Results --- p.42Chapter 5.1 --- Frequency Response --- p.43Chapter 5.2 --- Distortion --- p.44Chapter 5.3 --- Amplification and Linearity --- p.45Chapter 5.4 --- Voice Quality With Different Voice Packet Sizes --- p.46Chapter 5.5 --- Voice Loss Under Various Data Loadings --- p.47Chapter Chapter VI --- Implementation Experiences --- p.49Chapter 6.1 --- CPU Bottle-neck --- p.49Chapter 6.2 --- Data Bus Bottle-neck --- p.50Chapter 6.3 --- Operating System --- p.50Chapter Chapter VII --- Future Works --- p.52Chapter 7.1 --- Enhancement of ISA --- p.52Chapter 7.2 --- Extensions To Other Networks --- p.53Chapter 7.3 --- A New Architecture For Future Multimedia Workstation --- p.54Chapter Chapter VIII --- Conclusions --- p.57Bibliography --- p.59Appendices --- p.A.lAppendix A: Detailed Circuit Designs --- p.A.2Appendix B: Detailed Software Designs --- p.A.5Appendix C: Schematic Diagrams --- p.A.15Appendix D: Program Listings --- p.A.2