Cooperative user–network interactions in next generation communication networks
Introduction
Converged Networks [1] allow different access networks, terminals and services to coexist bringing forth a new communication paradigm, which is user-centric [2], i.e., the user is no longer bound to only one access network but may indirectly select the best available access network to support a service session [3]. Upon a new service request or even any dynamic change affecting the session (e.g., mobility) one of the participating access networks needs to be selected in order to support the session. Next Generation Communication Networks – controlled by an IP Core Network – need to be equipped with a Network Selection mechanism to assign the best access network to handle service activation, or any dynamic session change. Such decision may result in a single access network or even multiple networks cooperating to handle a service (the multiple networks case is treated in [4]). This paper studies the resulting interaction between a user and a network, and seeks the best behaviour for each entity such that their conflicting interests are overcome and satisfaction is achieved.
Interactions between entities with conflicting interests, follow action plans designed by each entity in such a way as to achieve a particular selfish goal and are known as strategic interactions. Game Theory is a theoretical framework that studies strategic interactions, by developing models that prescribe actions in order for the interacting entities to achieve satisfactory gains from the situation. In this paper, we utilise Game Theory in order to model, analyze and finally propose solutions for the user–network interactions arising due to the Network Selection mechanism. Initially, we utilise Game Theory in order to model the relationship between the user and the network as a strategic game. Particularly, we utilise the notion of Present Value (PV) for a sequence of payoffs in a repeated game [5] in order to reach a decision that will be both user-satisfying and network-satisfying.
In an attempt to improve the user–network relationship according to the knowledge acquired during the interaction history, we define a notion of adaptivity for the user as a player in the access network selection decision game, and based on that, we propose a new user strategy for the repeated user–network interaction game. The proposed adaptive strategy, together with the rest of the strategies studied in this paper, are evaluated through simulations that explore their behaviour. The numerical results verify that the players gain more when cooperating, as expected from the theoretical analysis. Moreover, simulations show that the proposed adaptive user strategy results in profitable payoffs, also reinforcing the conclusions of the theoretical analysis.
The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes related work and motivates the subsequent work. Section 3 investigates the user–network interaction both as a one-shot and as a repeated interaction. The paper continues by a study of access network selection (Section 4) leading to a proposal of a new adaptive user strategy. A numerical evaluation of all strategies analyzed in the paper is found in Section 5 and finally, conclusions are drawn in Section 6.
Section snippets
Related work and motivation
Although network selection is a relatively young research area, it has been extensively studied in recent years [6], [7], [8]. The growing popularity of networks that promote technology convergence and allow the co-existence of heterogeneous access networks, has pushed towards the efficient resource management of the overall converged system upon a given dynamic change (e.g., service request, context change, and mobility).
From the earlier works on network selection various approaches describing
User–network interaction
In this section we explore, using game theoretical tools, the relationship between the user and the network participating in a converged system. Particularly, we investigate the interaction resulting from the network selection procedure, and we aim through the proposed game model to reach a decision that is both user-satisfying and network-satisfying.
The user as an adaptive entity
Having examined the generic relationship between a user and a network through two different types of strategies for each of the players, in this section we propose a model for network selection in a converged environment, which is based on the knowledge obtained from the analysis of these strategies. The Network Selection decision is modelled as a game between one user of the converged environment and the participating access networks that are available to the specific user: the networks play
User and network behaviour with different strategies
This section examines the numerical behaviour of user and network strategies defined and used in the previous sections. The evaluation is based on a Matlab [27] implementation of an iterated user–network interaction game, where all user and network strategies are played against each other multiple times in order to evaluate the behaviour of each strategy in terms of payoff. The implementation of the user–network interaction game was based on a publicly available Matlab implementation of the
Conclusions
In this paper, we have studied the interaction between a user and a network resulting from Network Selection in Next Generation Communication Networks and we utilized Game-Theoretic tools in order to capture this interaction. This framework enabled us to compute a cooperative solution that is satisfactory for both the user and the network in a repeated interactive situation between the two entities.
Prior to analyzing the repeatability of the interaction, we introduced a model that captures the
Josephina Antoniou received her B.A. degree (summa cum laude) in Computer Science and Mathematics from Wartburg College, IA, USA in May 2002. She has received her M.Sc degree in Advanced Computer Technologies from the University of Cyprus in June 2004 and is currently working towards her Ph.D. also at the University of Cyprus, in the area of mobile networks. She has been a Research Associate for the University of Cyprus working since June 2002, for the, IST/ICT funded projects: SEACORN, B-BONE,
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Reputation-based network selection mechanism using game theory
2011, Physical CommunicationCitation Excerpt :The users’ strategies are the bandwidth demands, and they are assumed to be free to bargain in order to achieve mutual advantage. The non-cooperative auction game is used by Khan et al. in [19–21] in order to study the interaction between networks and users while Chatterjee et al. [22] use the non-cooperative cournot game, Charilas et al. [23] propose the use of non-cooperative Prisoner’s Dilemma game in order to address the admission and load control problems, whereas Antoniou et al. [24] look at the network selection problem and model the user–network interaction as a cooperative repeated game. In order to solve the bandwidth allocation problem in cooperative networks vs. networks scenarios Niyato et al. [28] use a bankruptcy game, Sulima et al. [29] use a Stackelberg game, Antoniou et al. [31] use a coalition game and Khan et al. [32] use a bargaining game.
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2021, IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computational IntelligenceUser demand wireless network selection using game theory
2017, Lecture Notes in Electrical EngineeringA study and survey of handoff strategies in next generation wireless networks
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Josephina Antoniou received her B.A. degree (summa cum laude) in Computer Science and Mathematics from Wartburg College, IA, USA in May 2002. She has received her M.Sc degree in Advanced Computer Technologies from the University of Cyprus in June 2004 and is currently working towards her Ph.D. also at the University of Cyprus, in the area of mobile networks. She has been a Research Associate for the University of Cyprus working since June 2002, for the, IST/ICT funded projects: SEACORN, B-BONE, C-MOBILE and C-CAST dealing with Enhanced UMTS, MBMS over UMTS, enhanced MBMS over converged networks and currently context-aware multicasting over converged, next generation networks. Her research interests include radio resource management and session management in mobile networks, specifically Access Network Selection algorithms in next generation mobile networks using game theoretic approaches.
Vicky Papadopoulou has earned her Bachelor Diploma (1998), Master Degree (2001) and Ph.D. degree (2003) in the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Greece. Since then she has held positions as Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras (Winter Semester 2003–2004), Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, University of Cyprus (Spring Semester 2006–2007), Postdoctoral Researcher in the Laboratory of Foundations of Computer Systems and Theoretical Computer Science, Department of Computer Science, University of Cyprus (2004–September 2008), and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, European University Cyprus, Cyprus (from October 2008). She has several conference and journal publications and her research interests include Algorithmic Game Theory, Computational Complexity, Graph Theory, Approximation and Combinatorial Algorithms, Networking and Communications.
Vasos Vassiliou is a Lecturer at the Computer Science Department of the University of Cyprus since 2005. He is also the Associate Director of the Networks Research Laboratory (NetRL) at UCY. He held positions as a Visiting Lecturer at the same department (2004–2005) and as an Assistant Professor at the Computer Science Department of Intercollege (2002–2004). He has published several articles in International Conferences and Journals and participates actively in COST actions, local, and European Projects. He holds an M.Sc. (1999) and a Ph.D. (2002) from the Georgia Institute of Technology both in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is a member of IET (former IEE), IEEE, ACM, and participates in the Technical Program Committees of several international conferences, such as Globecom, VTC, PIMRC, WNET, EW. He is also an Associate Editor of the Journal of Telecommunication Systems.
Andreas Pitsillides received the B.Sc. (Hns) degree from University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) and Ph.D. from Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia, in 1980 and 1993, respectively. He is a Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Cyprus, and heads the Networks Research Laboratory (NetRL). Andreas is also a Founding member and Chairman and Scientific Director, of the Cyprus Academic and Research Network (CYNET) since its establishment in 2000. Prior to that he has worked in industry for six years (Siemens 1980–1983, Asea-Brown Boveri, 1983–1986), and from 1987 to 1994 had been with the Swinburne University of Technology (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer 1990–1994, and Foundation Associate Director of the Swinburne Laboratory for Telecommunications Research, 1992–1994). In 1992, he spent a six month period as an academic visitor at the Telstra (Australia) Telecom Research Labs (TRL). Andreas has published over 180 research papers and book chapters, he is the co-editor with Petros Ioannou of the book on Modelling and Control of Complex Systems (CRC Press, ISBN: 978-0-8493-7985-0, 2007), presented invited lectures at major research organisations, has given short courses at international conferences and short courses to industry. Andreas serves/served on the executive committees of major conferences, as, e.g., INFOCOM, WiOpt, ISYC, MCCS, and ICT. He is a member of the IEEE (M’89, SM’2005), of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Technical Committee TC 1.5 on Networked Systems and TC 7.3 on Transportation Systems, and of the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) working group WG 6.3: Performance of Communications Systems. Andreas is also a member of the Editorial Board of Computer Networks (COMNET) Journal.