No abstract

No abstract

Summary.We discuss how decentralized network resource allocation problems fit within the context of mechanism design (realization theory and implementation theory), and how mechanism design can provide useful insight into the nature of decentralized network resource allocation problems. The discussion is guided by the unicast problem with routing and Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, and the multi-rate multicast service provisioning problem in networks. For these problems we present decentralized resource allocation mechanisms that achieve the solution of the corresponding centralized resource allocation problem and are informationally efficient. We show how the aforementioned mechanisms can be embedded into the general framework of realization theory, and indicate how realization theory can be used to establish the mechanisms' informational efficiency in certain instances. We also present a conjecture related to implementation in Nash equilibria of the optimal centralized solution of the unicast service provisioning problem. Introduction: Motivation and ChallengesToday's fast paced world requires a vast amount of information exchange in order to operate efficiently. With the various technological advances the number of types of services being offered (e.g. telephone connections, live audio broadcasting, live video broadcasting, library database access, e-mail, world wide web), is constantly increasing. Each type of service imposes different Quality of Service (QoS) requirements (e.g. delay, percentage of data packet loss, jitter) on the delivery methods. To address these needs extensive communication networks were developed in the past century. Many of these networks (such as telephone networks) were initially designed for the delivery of certain types of information and were later adapted to accommodate new information exchange needs.Most of today's networks, called integrated services networks, support the delivery of a variety of services to their users. One of the main challenges in integrated services networks is the design of resource allocation strategies which guarantee the

Abstract. We present an approach to the admission control, resource allocation and routing problem in connection-oriented networks that o¤er multiple services to users. Users' preferences are summarized by means of their utility functions, and each user is allowed to request more than one type of service. Each requested service may be delivered over one of many possible routes. Multiple types of resources are allocated at each link along the path of a connection. We assume that the relation between Quality of Service (QoS) and resource allocation is given, and we incorporate it as a constraint into a static optimization problem. The objective is to determine the amount of required resources and route for each type of service to maximize a welfare function that is equal to the sum of the users' utilities. We describe a competitive market economy that achieves the objective and satisfies the informational constraints imposed by the nature of the decentralized resource allocation and routing problem.

No abstract