10209884
Downlink power allocation for multi-class wireless systems
In this paper we consider a power allocation problem in multi-class wireless systems. We focus on the downlink of the system. Each mobile has a utility function that characterizes its degree of satisfaction for the received service. The objective is to obtain a power allocation that maximizes the total system utility. Typically, natural utility functions for each mobile are nonconcave. Hence, we cannot use existing convex optimization techniques to derive a global optimal solution. We develop a simple (distributed) algorithm to obtain a power allocation that is asymptotically optimal in the number of mobiles. The algorithm is based on dynamic pricing and consists of two stages. At the mobile selection stage, the base station selects mobiles to which power is allocated. At the power allocation stage, the base station allocates power to the selected mobiles. We provide numerical results that illustrate the performance of our scheme. In particular, we show that our algorithm results in system performance that is close to the performance of a global optimal solution in most cases.
7032611
Utility-Optimal Medium Access Control: Reverse and Forward Engineering
This paper analyzes and designs medium access control (MAC) protocols for wireless ad-hoc networks through the network utility maximization (NUM) framework. We first reverse-engineer the current exponential backoff (EB) type of MAC protocols such as the BEB (binary exponential backoff) in the IEEE 802.11 standard through a non-cooperative game- theoretic model. This MAC protocol is shown to be implicitly maximizing, using a stochastic subgradient, a selfish local utility at each link in the form of expected net reward for successful transmission. While the existence of a Nash equilibrium can be established, neither convergence nor social welfare optimality is guaranteed due to the inadequate feedback mechanism in the EB protocol. This motivates the forward-engineering part of the paper, where a network-wide utility maximization problem is for- mulated, using a collision and persistence probability model and aligning selfish utility with total social welfare. By adjusting the parameters in the utility objective functions of the NUM problem, we can also control the tradeoff between efficiency and fairness of radio resource allocation through a rigorous and systematic design. We develop two distributed algorithms to solve the MAC design NUM problem, which lead to random access protocols that have slightly more message passing overhead than the current EB protocol, but significant potential for efficiency and fairness improvement. We provide readily-verifiable sufficient conditions under which convergence of the proposed algorithms to a global optimality of network utility can be guaranteed, and through numerical examples illustrate the value of the NUM approach to the complexity-performance tradeoff in MAC design.
7887291
Non-convex optimization and rate control for multi-class services in the Internet
In this paper, we investigate the problem of distributively allocating transmission data rates to users in the Internet. We allow users to have concave as well as sigmoidal utility functions as appropriate for different applications. In the literature, for simplicity, most works have dealt only with the concave utility function. However, we show that applying rate control algorithms developed for concave utility functions in a more realistic setting (with both concave and sigmoidal types of utility functions) could lead to instability and high network congestion. We show that a pricing-based mechanism that solves the dual formulation can be developed based on the theory of subdifferentials with the property that the prices "self-regulate" the users to access the resources based on the net utility. We discuss convergence issues and show that an algorithm can be developed that is efficient in the sense of achieving the global optimum when there are many users.
20717190
Opportunistic power scheduling for multi-server wireless systems with minimum performance constraints
We present and power scheduling scheme, i.e., a joint time-slot and power allocation method for wireless cellular systems. We allow multiple transmissions in a time-slot that can interfere with each other. Hence, it is important to not only select the mobiles to he scheduled in a time-slot, hut also important to allocate an appropriate power level for transmission to these scheduled mobiles in order to achieve high system performance and quality of service. We model the time-varying wireless channel as a stochastic process and formulate a stochastic programming problem that attempts to maximize the expected total system utility, with constraints on the minimum expected utility for each mobile. The power scheduling algorithm is obtained by using stochastic duality and implemented via stochastic subgradient techniques.
16485757
Reverse Engineering MAC
This paper reverse engineers backoff-based random-access MAC protocols in ad-hoc networks. We show that the contention resolution algorithm in such protocols is implicitly participating in a non-cooperative game. Each link attempts to maximize a selfish local utility function, whose exact shape is reverse engineered from the protocol description, through a stochastic subgradient method in which the link updates its persistence probability based on its transmission success or failure. We prove that existence of a Nash equilibrium is guaranteed in general. The minimum amount of backoff aggressiveness needed for uniqueness of Nash equilibrium and convergence of the best response strategy are established as a function of user density. Convergence properties and connection with the best response strategy are also proved for variants of the stochastic-subgradient-based dynamics of the game. Together with known results in reverse engineering TCP and BGP, this paper completes the recent efforts in reverse engineering the main protocols in layers 2-4.
16820775
Nonconvexity issues for Internet rate control with multiclass services: stability and optimality
In this paper, we investigate the problem of distributively allocating transmission rates to users on the Internet. We allow users to have concave as well as sigmoidal utility functions that are natural in the context of various applications. In the literature, for simplicity, most works have dealt only with the concave case. However, we show that when applying rate control algorithms developed for concave utility functions in a more realistic setting (with both concave and sigmoidal types of utility functions), they could lead to instability and high network congestion. We show that a pricing based mechanism that solves the dual formulation can be developed based on the theory of subdifferentials with the property that the prices "self-regulate" the users to access the resource based on the net utility. We discuss convergence issues and show that an algorithm can be developed that is efficient in the sense of achieving the global optimum when there are many users.
28256456
Double Optimization for Design of Protein Energy Function
We propose an automated protocol for designing the energy landscape suitable for the description of a given set of protein sequences with known structures, by optimizing the parameters of the energy function. The parameters are optimized so that not only the global minimum-energy conformation becomes native-like, but also the conformations distinct from the native structure have higher energies than those close to the native one, for each protein sequence in the set. In order to achieve this goal, one has to sample protein conformations that are local minima of the energy function for given parameters. Then the parameters are optimized using linear approximation, and then local minimum conformations are searched with the new energy parameters. We develop an algorithm that repeats this process of parameter optimization based on linear approximation, and conformational optimization for the current parameters, ultimately leading to the optimization of the energy parameters. We test the feasibility of this algorithm by optimizing a coarse grained energy function, called the UNRES energy function, for a set of ten proteins.
41744891
Agent and e-business models
6606959
Adaptively Mapping Code in an Intelligent Memory Architecture
This paper presents an algorithm to authomatically map code to a generic Processor-In-Memory (PIM) system that consists of a host processor and a much simpler memory processor. To achieve high performance with this type of architecture, code needs to be partitioned and scheduled such that each section is assigned to the processor on which it runs most efficiently. In addition, processors should overlap their execution as much as possible. 
 
Our algorithm is embeded in a compiler and run-time system and maps applications fully automatically using both static and dynamic information. Using a set of applications and a simulated architecture, we show average speedups of 1.7 over a single host with plain memory. The speedups are very close and often higher than ideal speedups on a more expensive multiprocessor system composed of two identical host processors. Our work shows that heterogeneity can be cost-effectively exploited, and represents one step toward effectively mapping code to more advanced PIM systems.
3175252
Predicate-based caching in mobile clients for con tinuous partial match queries
This paper proposes a cache management scheme for continuous partial match queries in mobile computing systems. Conventional cache management methods for mobile clients are record ID-based ones. However, since the partial match query is a content-based retrieval, the conventional record ID-based approach cannot properly manage the cache consistency. We show the pr edicate- based approach is an effective cache management in mobile environments.
14452578
Automatically mapping code on an intelligent memory architecture
This paper presents an algorithm to automatically map code on a generic intelligent memory system that consists of a host processor and a simpler memory processor. To achieve high performance with this type of architecture, code needs to be partitioned and scheduled such that each section is assigned to the processor on which it runs most efficiently. In addition, the two processors should overlap their execution as much as possible. With our algorithm, applications are mapped fully automatically using both static and dynamic information. Using a set of standard applications and a simulated architecture, we show average speedups of 1.7 for numerical applications and 1.3 for nonnumerical applications over a single host with plain memory. The speedups are very close and often higher than ideal speedups on a more expensive multiprocessor system composed of two identical host processors. Our work shows that heterogeneity can be cost-effectively exploited and represents one step toward effectively mapping code on intelligent memory systems.