Wireless Network Neutrality: Technological Challenges and Policy Implications

One key aspect of the debate over network neutrality has been whether and how network neutrality should apply to wireless networks. The existing commentary has focused on the economics of wireless network neutrality, but to date a detailed analysis of how the technical aspects of wireless networks affect the implementation of network neutrality has yet to appear in the literature. As an initial matter, bad handoffs, local congestion, and the physics of wave propagation make wireless broadband networks significantly less reliable than fixed broadband networks. These technical differences require the network to manage dropped packets and congestion in a way that contradicts some of the basic principles underlying the Internet. Wireless devices also tend to be more heterogeneous and more tightly integrated into the network than fixed-line devices, which can lead wireless networks to incorporate principles that differ from the traditional Internet architecture. Mobility also makes routing and security much harder to manage, and many of the solutions create inefficiencies. These differences underscore the need for a regulatory regime that permits that gives wireless networks the flexibility to deviate from the existing architecture in ways, even when those deviations exist in uneasy tension with network neutrality

Automatic configuration of OpenFlow in wireless mobile ad hoc networks

A Mobile wireless Ad hoc NETwork (MANET) is a decentralized wireless network in which mobile wireless nodes either directly communicate with each other or communicate via other wireless nodes in the network. In addition, OpenFlow has disruptive potential in designing a flexible programmable network which can foster innovation, reduce complexity and deliver right economics. In recent years, there are significant interests from research communities to deploy OpenFlow in MANETs. This paper proposes a configuration method with which OpenFlow can be deployed automatically in a MANET without any manual configuration. The proposed configuration method is tested in an emulated MANET created on the Fed4FIRE testbed using Mininet-WiFi (an emulator for wireless software-defined wireless networks). Experimentation includes automatic configuration of OpenFlow in linear, sparse, and dense mobile ad hoc networks. Results show the effectiveness of the method in configuring OpenFlow in wireless mobile ad hoc networks

Wireless Network Neutrality: Technological Challenges and Policy Implications

One key aspect of the debate over network neutrality has been whether and how network neutrality should apply to wireless networks. The existing commentary has focused on the economics of wireless network neutrality, but to date a detailed analysis of how the technical aspects of wireless networks affect the implementation of network neutrality has yet to appear in the literature. As an initial matter, bad handoffs, local congestion, and the physics of wave propagation make wireless broadband networks significantly less reliable than fixed broadband networks. These technical differences require the network to manage dropped packets and congestion in a way that contradicts some of the basic principles underlying the Internet. Wireless devices also tend to be more heterogeneous and more tightly integrated into the network than fixed-line devices, which can lead wireless networks to incorporate principles that differ from the traditional Internet architecture. Mobility also makes routing and security much harder to manage, and many of the solutions create inefficiencies. These differences underscore the need for a regulatory regime that permits that gives wireless networks the flexibility to deviate from the existing architecture in ways, even when those deviations exist in uneasy tension with network neutrality

Asynchronous Auction for Distributed Nonlinear Resource Allocation Problem

Resource Allocation Problems (RAPs) are concerned with the optimal allocation of resources to tasks. Problems in fields such as search theory, statistics, finance, economics, logistics, sensor & wireless networks fit this formulation. In literature, several centralized/synchronous algorithms have been proposed including recently proposed auction algorithm, RAP Auction. Here we present asynchronous implementation of RAP Auction for distributed RAPs.Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-07-1-0361) and Office of the Director, Defense Research and Engineering (Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Grant FA9550-06-1-0324

Wireless network virtualization: Opportunities for spectrum sharing in the 3.5GHz band

In this paper, we evaluate the opportunities that Wireless Network Virtualization (WNV) can bring for spectrum sharing by focusing on the regulatory framework that has been deployed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the 3.5GHz band. We pair this innovative regulatory approach with another novel arrangement, Wireless Network Virtualization, and thus assess the resulting opportunities from the perspectives of regulation, technology and economics. To this end, we have established a comprehensive foundation for further exploration and development of virtualized networks that would provide significant opportunities for enabling and enhancing current sharing arrangements

Understanding Game Theory via Wireless Power Control

In this lecture note, we introduce the basic concepts of game theory (GT), a branch of mathematics traditionally studied and applied in the areas of economics, political science, and biology, which has emerged in the last fifteen years as an effective framework for communications, networking, and signal processing (SP). The real catalyzer has been the blooming of all issues related to distributed networks, in which the nodes can be modeled as players in a game competing for system resources. Some relevant notions of GT are introduced by elaborating on a simple application in the context of wireless communications, notably the power control in an interference channel (IC) with two transmitters and two receivers.Comment: Accepted for publication as lecture note in IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, 13 pages, 4 figures. The results can be reproduced using the following Matlab code: https://github.com/lucasanguinetti/ ln-game-theor