1,229 research outputs found
Dynamic Packet Scheduling in Wireless Networks
We consider protocols that serve communication requests arising over time in
a wireless network that is subject to interference. Unlike previous approaches,
we take the geometry of the network and power control into account, both
allowing to increase the network's performance significantly. We introduce a
stochastic and an adversarial model to bound the packet injection. Although
taken as the primary motivation, this approach is not only suitable for models
based on the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). It also covers
virtually all other common interference models, for example the multiple-access
channel, the radio-network model, the protocol model, and distance-2 matching.
Packet-routing networks allowing each edge or each node to transmit or receive
one packet at a time can be modeled as well.
Starting from algorithms for the respective scheduling problem with static
transmission requests, we build distributed stable protocols. This is more
involved than in previous, similar approaches because the algorithms we
consider do not necessarily scale linearly when scaling the input instance. We
can guarantee a throughput that is as large as the one of the original static
algorithm. In particular, for SINR models the competitive ratios of the
protocol in comparison to optimal ones in the respective model are between
constant and O(log^2 m) for a network of size m.Comment: 23 page
Approximation Algorithms for Wireless Link Scheduling with Flexible Data Rates
We consider scheduling problems in wireless networks with respect to flexible
data rates. That is, more or less data can be transmitted per time depending on
the signal quality, which is determined by the
signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). Each wireless link has a
utility function mapping SINR values to the respective data rates. We have to
decide which transmissions are performed simultaneously and (depending on the
problem variant) also which transmission powers are used.
In the capacity-maximization problem, one strives to maximize the overall
network throughput, i.e., the summed utility of all links. For arbitrary
utility functions (not necessarily continuous ones), we present an O(log
n)-approximation when having n communication requests. This algorithm is built
on a constant-factor approximation for the special case of the respective
problem where utility functions only consist of a single step. In other words,
each link has an individual threshold and we aim at maximizing the number of
links whose threshold is satisfied. On the way, this improves the result in
[Kesselheim, SODA 2011] by not only extending it to individual thresholds but
also showing a constant approximation factor independent of assumptions on the
underlying metric space or the network parameters.
In addition, we consider the latency-minimization problem. Here, each link
has a demand, e.g., representing an amount of data. We have to compute a
schedule of shortest possible length such that for each link the demand is
fulfilled, that is the overall summed utility (or data transferred) is at least
as large as its demand. Based on the capacity-maximization algorithm, we show
an O(log^2 n)-approximation for this problem
A Constant-Factor Approximation for Wireless Capacity Maximization with Power Control in the SINR Model
In modern wireless networks, devices are able to set the power for each
transmission carried out. Experimental but also theoretical results indicate
that such power control can improve the network capacity significantly. We
study this problem in the physical interference model using SINR constraints.
In the SINR capacity maximization problem, we are given n pairs of senders
and receivers, located in a metric space (usually a so-called fading metric).
The algorithm shall select a subset of these pairs and choose a power level for
each of them with the objective of maximizing the number of simultaneous
communications. This is, the selected pairs have to satisfy the SINR
constraints with respect to the chosen powers.
We present the first algorithm achieving a constant-factor approximation in
fading metrics. The best previous results depend on further network parameters
such as the ratio of the maximum and the minimum distance between a sender and
its receiver. Expressed only in terms of n, they are (trivial) Omega(n)
approximations.
Our algorithm still achieves an O(log n) approximation if we only assume to
have a general metric space rather than a fading metric. Furthermore, by using
standard techniques the algorithm can also be used in single-hop and multi-hop
scheduling scenarios. Here, we also get polylog(n) approximations.Comment: 17 page
2018 Stuart Rome Lecture: Origins of and Potential Solutions to High Prescription Drug Prices in the U.S.
Algorithms as Mechanisms: The Price of Anarchy of Relax-and-Round
Many algorithms that are originally designed without explicitly considering
incentive properties are later combined with simple pricing rules and used as
mechanisms. The resulting mechanisms are often natural and simple to
understand. But how good are these algorithms as mechanisms? Truthful reporting
of valuations is typically not a dominant strategy (certainly not with a
pay-your-bid, first-price rule, but it is likely not a good strategy even with
a critical value, or second-price style rule either). Our goal is to show that
a wide class of approximation algorithms yields this way mechanisms with low
Price of Anarchy.
The seminal result of Lucier and Borodin [SODA 2010] shows that combining a
greedy algorithm that is an -approximation algorithm with a
pay-your-bid payment rule yields a mechanism whose Price of Anarchy is
. In this paper we significantly extend the class of algorithms for
which such a result is available by showing that this close connection between
approximation ratio on the one hand and Price of Anarchy on the other also
holds for the design principle of relaxation and rounding provided that the
relaxation is smooth and the rounding is oblivious.
We demonstrate the far-reaching consequences of our result by showing its
implications for sparse packing integer programs, such as multi-unit auctions
and generalized matching, for the maximum traveling salesman problem, for
combinatorial auctions, and for single source unsplittable flow problems. In
all these problems our approach leads to novel simple, near-optimal mechanisms
whose Price of Anarchy either matches or beats the performance guarantees of
known mechanisms.Comment: Extended abstract appeared in Proc. of 16th ACM Conference on
Economics and Computation (EC'15
Jamming-Resistant Learning in Wireless Networks
We consider capacity maximization in wireless networks under adversarial
interference conditions. There are n links, each consisting of a sender and a
receiver, which repeatedly try to perform a successful transmission. In each
time step, the success of attempted transmissions depends on interference
conditions, which are captured by an interference model (e.g. the SINR model).
Additionally, an adversarial jammer can render a (1-delta)-fraction of time
steps unsuccessful. For this scenario, we analyze a framework for distributed
learning algorithms to maximize the number of successful transmissions. Our
main result is an algorithm based on no-regret learning converging to an
O(1/delta)-approximation. It provides even a constant-factor approximation when
the jammer exactly blocks a (1-delta)-fraction of time steps. In addition, we
consider a stochastic jammer, for which we obtain a constant-factor
approximation after a polynomial number of time steps. We also consider more
general settings, in which links arrive and depart dynamically, and where each
sender tries to reach multiple receivers. Our algorithms perform favorably in
simulations.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, typos remove
Investigation of tracer diffusion in crowded cylindrical channel
Based on a coarse-grained model, we carry out molecular dynamics simulations
to analyze the diffusion of a small tracer particle inside a cylindrical
channel whose inner wall is covered with randomly grafted short polymeric
chains. We observe an interesting transient subdiffusive behavior along the
cylindrical axis at high attraction between the tracer and the chains, however,
the long time diffusion is always normal. This process is found to be enhanced
for the case that we immobilize the grafted chains, i.e. the sub-diffusive
behavior sets in at an earlier time and spans over a longer time period before
becoming diffusive. Even if the grafted chains are replaced with a frozen sea
of repulsive, non-connected particles in the background, the transient
subdiffusion is observed. The intermediate subdiffusive behavior only
disappears when the grafted chains are replaced with a mobile background sea of
mutually repulsive particles. Overall, the long time diffusion coefficient of
the tracer along the cylinder axis decreases with the increase in system volume
fraction, strength of attraction between the tracer and the background and also
on freezing the background. We believe that the simple model presented here
could be useful for a qualitative understanding of the process of
macromolecular diffusion inside the nuclear pore complex
- …