Time and Location Aware Mobile Data Pricing

Mobile users' correlated mobility and data consumption patterns often lead to severe cellular network congestion in peak hours and hot spots. This paper presents an optimal design of time and location aware mobile data pricing, which incentivizes users to smooth traffic and reduce network congestion. We derive the optimal pricing scheme through analyzing a two-stage decision process, where the operator determines the time and location aware prices by minimizing his total cost in Stage I, and each mobile user schedules his mobile traffic by maximizing his payoff (i.e., utility minus payment) in Stage II. We formulate the two-stage decision problem as a bilevel optimization problem, and propose a derivative-free algorithm to solve the problem for any increasing concave user utility functions. We further develop low complexity algorithms for the commonly used logarithmic and linear utility functions. The optimal pricing scheme ensures a win-win situation for the operator and users. Simulations show that the operator can reduce the cost by up to 97.52% in the logarithmic utility case and 98.70% in the linear utility case, and users can increase their payoff by up to 79.69% and 106.10% for the two types of utilities, respectively, comparing with a time and location independent pricing benchmark. Our study suggests that the operator should provide price discounts at less crowded time slots and locations, and the discounts need to be significant when the operator's cost of provisioning excessive traffic is high or users' willingness to delay traffic is low.Comment: This manuscript serves as the online technical report of the article accepted by IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computin

Welcome to OR&S! Where students, academics and professionals come together

In this manuscript, an overview is given of the activities done at the Operations Research and Scheduling (OR&S) research group of the faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Ghent University. Unlike the book published by [1] that gives a summary of all academic and professional activities done in the field of Project Management in collaboration with the OR&S group, the focus of the current manuscript lies on academic publications and the integration of these published results in teaching activities. An overview is given of the publications from the very beginning till today, and some of the topics that have led to publications are discussed in somewhat more detail. Moreover, it is shown how the research results have been used in the classroom to actively involve students in our research activities

An overview of recent research results and future research avenues using simulation studies in project management

This paper gives an overview of three simulation studies in dynamic project scheduling integrating baseline scheduling with risk analysis and project control. This integration is known in the literature as dynamic scheduling. An integrated project control method is presented using a project control simulation approach that combines the three topics into a single decision support system. The method makes use of Monte Carlo simulations and connects schedule risk analysis (SRA) with earned value management (EVM). A corrective action mechanism is added to the simulation model to measure the efficiency of two alternative project control methods. At the end of the paper, a summary of recent and state-of-the-art results is given, and directions for future research based on a new research study are presented

Quasi-Dynamic Frame Coordination For Ultra- Reliability and Low-Latency in 5G TDD Systems

The fifth generation (5G) mobile technology features the ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) as a major service class. URLLC applications demand a tight radio latency with extreme link reliability. In 5G dynamic time division duplexing (TDD) systems, URLLC requirements become further challenging to achieve due to the severe and fast-varying cross link interference (CLI) and the switching time of the radio frame configurations (RFCs). In this work, we propose a quasi-dynamic inter-cell frame coordination algorithm using hybrid frame design and a cyclic-offset-based RFC code-book. The proposed solution adaptively updates the RFCs in time such that both the average CLI and the user-centric radio latency are minimized. Compared to state-of-the-art dynamic TDD studies, the proposed scheme shows a significant improvement in the URLLC outage latency, i.e., 92% reduction gain, while boosting the cell-edge capacity by 189% and with a greatly reduced coordination overhead space, limited to B-bit

Energy-efficient wireless communication

In this chapter we present an energy-efficient highly adaptive network interface architecture and a novel data link layer protocol for wireless networks that provides Quality of Service (QoS) support for diverse traffic types. Due to the dynamic nature of wireless networks, adaptations in bandwidth scheduling and error control are necessary to achieve energy efficiency and an acceptable quality of service. In our approach we apply adaptability through all layers of the protocol stack, and provide feedback to the applications. In this way the applications can adapt the data streams, and the network protocols can adapt the communication parameters

Working Families’ Access to Early Childhood Education

In this brief, using data from the Census Bureau, state administrative systems, and a Carsey survey of working parents, author Jessica Carson examines the child care landscape of the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont and links these findings to a discussion of early childhood education policy and practice. She reports that 96 percent of Upper Valley parents surveyed said child care is necessary in order for them to work. The number of slots offered by licensed (home- and center-based) early childhood education providers in the Upper Valley is 2,000 short of the estimated number of young children whose parent or parents are in the labor force. Further, the cost of licensed care for an Upper Valley family with just one infant is equivalent to 16 percent of median family income, more than twice the 7 percent that the federal government considers affordable. She discusses possible multipronged strategies and policies to address the challenges working parents face accessing early childhood care and education in the Upper Valley and beyond