2 research outputs found
Non-convex resource allocation in communication networks
The continuously growing number of applications competing for resources
in current communication networks highlights the necessity for efficient resource allocation mechanisms to maximize user satisfaction. Optimization
Theory can provide the necessary tools to develop such mechanisms that will
allocate network resources optimally and fairly among users. However, the
resource allocation problem in current networks has characteristics that turn
the respective optimization problem into a non-convex one. First, current
networks very often consist of a number of wireless links, whose capacity is
not constant but follows Shannon capacity formula, which is a non-convex
function. Second, the majority of the traffic in current networks is generated
by multimedia applications, which are non-concave functions of rate. Third,
current resource allocation methods follow the (bandwidth) proportional
fairness policy, which when applied to networks shared by both concave
and non-concave utilities leads to unfair resource allocations. These characteristics make current convex optimization frameworks inefficient in several
aspects. This work aims to develop a non-convex optimization framework
that will be able to allocate resources efficiently for non-convex resource allocation formulations. Towards this goal, a necessary and sufficient condition
for the convergence of any primal-dual optimization algorithm to the optimal solution is proven. The wide applicability of this condition makes this a fundamental contribution for Optimization Theory in general. A number
of optimization formulations are proposed, cases where this condition is not
met are analysed and efficient alternative heuristics are provided to handle
these cases. Furthermore, a novel multi-sigmoidal utility shape is proposed
to model user satisfaction for multi-tiered multimedia applications more accurately. The advantages of such non-convex utilities and their effect in the
optimization process are thoroughly examined. Alternative allocation policies are also investigated with respect to their ability to allocate resources
fairly and deal with the non-convexity of the resource allocation problem. Specifically, the advantages of using Utility Proportional Fairness as an allocation policy are examined with respect to the development of distributed
algorithms, their convergence to the optimal solution and their ability to
adapt to the Quality of Service requirements of each application