Throughput-Optimal Scheduling in Multihop Wireless Networks Without Per-Flow Information

In this paper, we consider the problem of link scheduling in multihop wireless networks under general interference constraints. Our goal is to design scheduling schemes that do not use per-flow or per-destination information, maintain a single data queue for each link, and exploit only local information, while guaranteeing throughput optimality. Although the celebrated back-pressure algorithm maximizes throughput, it requires per-flow or per-destination information. It is usually difficult to obtain and maintain this type of information, especially in large networks, where there are numerous flows. Also, the back-pressure algorithm maintains a complex data structure at each node, keeps exchanging queue-length information among neighboring nodes, and commonly results in poor delay performance. In this paper, we propose scheduling schemes that can circumvent these drawbacks and guarantee throughput optimality. These schemes use either the readily available hop-count information or only the local information for each link. We rigorously analyze the performance of the proposed schemes using fluid limit techniques via an inductive argument and show that they are throughput-optimal. We also conduct simulations to validate our theoretical results in various settings and show that the proposed schemes can substantially improve the delay performance in most scenarios.close

Destination-based Routing and Circuit Allocation for Future Traffic Growth

Internet traffic continues to grow relentlessly, driven largely by increasingly high- \\ resolution video streaming, the increasing adoption of cloud computing, the emergence of 5G networks, and the ever-growing reach of social media and social networks. Existing networks use packet switching to route packets on a hop-by-hop basis from the source to the destination. However, they suffer from two shortcomings. First, in existing networks, packets are routed along a fixed shortest path using the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol or obliviously load-balanced across equal-cost paths using the Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) protocol. These routing protocols do not fully utilize the network capacity because they do not adapt to network congestions in their routing decisions. Second, although studies have shown that the majority of packets processed by Internet routers are pass-through traffic, packets nonetheless have to be queued and routed at every hop in existing networks, which unnecessarily adds substantial delays and processing costs.In this thesis, we present two new approaches to overcome these shortcomings. First, we propose new backpressure-based routing algorithms which use only shortest-path routes when they are sufficient to accommodate the given traffic load, but will incrementally expand routing choices as needed to accommodate increasing traffic loads. This avoids the poor delay performance inherent in backpressure-based routing algorithms where packets may take long detours under light or moderate loads, and still retains the notable advantage, the network-wide optimal throughput, because packets are adaptively routed along less congested paths.Second, we propose a unified packet and circuit switched network in which the underlying optical transport is used to circuit-switch pass-through traffic by means of pre-established circuits. This avoids unnecessary packet queuing delays and processing costs at each hop. We propose a novel convex optimization framework based on a new destination-based multicommodity flow formulation for the allocation of circuits in such unified networks

Techniques for Decentralized and Dynamic Resource Allocation

abstract: This thesis investigates three different resource allocation problems, aiming to achieve two common goals: i) adaptivity to a fast-changing environment, ii) distribution of the computation tasks to achieve a favorable solution. The motivation for this work relies on the modern-era proliferation of sensors and devices, in the Data Acquisition Systems (DAS) layer of the Internet of Things (IoT) architecture. To avoid congestion and enable low-latency services, limits have to be imposed on the amount of decisions that can be centralized (i.e. solved in the ``cloud") and/or amount of control information that devices can exchange. This has been the motivation to develop i) a lightweight PHY Layer protocol for time synchronization and scheduling in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), ii) an adaptive receiver that enables Sub-Nyquist sampling, for efficient spectrum sensing at high frequencies, and iii) an SDN-scheme for resource-sharing across different technologies and operators, to harmoniously and holistically respond to fluctuations in demands at the eNodeB' s layer. The proposed solution for time synchronization and scheduling is a new protocol, called PulseSS, which is completely event-driven and is inspired by biological networks. The results on convergence and accuracy for locally connected networks, presented in this thesis, constitute the theoretical foundation for the protocol in terms of performance guarantee. The derived limits provided guidelines for ad-hoc solutions in the actual implementation of the protocol. The proposed receiver for Compressive Spectrum Sensing (CSS) aims at tackling the noise folding phenomenon, e.g., the accumulation of noise from different sub-bands that are folded, prior to sampling and baseband processing, when an analog front-end aliasing mixer is utilized. The sensing phase design has been conducted via a utility maximization approach, thus the scheme derived has been called Cognitive Utility Maximization Multiple Access (CUMMA). The framework described in the last part of the thesis is inspired by stochastic network optimization tools and dynamics. While convergence of the proposed approach remains an open problem, the numerical results here presented suggest the capability of the algorithm to handle traffic fluctuations across operators, while respecting different time and economic constraints. The scheme has been named Decomposition of Infrastructure-based Dynamic Resource Allocation (DIDRA).Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 201