A non-cooperative game-theoretic approach to channel assignment in multi-channel multi-radio wireless networks

Abstract

Channel assignment in multi-channel multiradio wireless networks poses a significant challenge due to scarcity of number of channels available in the wireless spectrum. Further, additional care has to be taken to consider the interference characteristics of the nodes in the network especially when nodes are in different collision domains. This work views the problem of channel assignment in multi-channel multi-radio networks with multiple collision domains as a non-cooperative game where the objective of the players is to maximize their individual utility by minimizing its interference. Necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for the channel assignment to be a Nash Equilibrium (NE) and efficiency of the NE is analyzed by deriving the lower bound of the price of anarchy of this game. A new fairness measure in multiple collision domain context is proposed and necessary and sufficient conditions for NE outcomes to be fair are derived. The equilibrium conditions are then applied to solve the channel assignment problem by proposing three algorithms, based on perfect/imperfect information, which rely on explicit communication between the players for arriving at an NE. A no-regret learning algorithm known as Freund and Schapire Informed algorithm, which has an additional advantage of low overhead in terms of information exchange, is proposed and its convergence to the stabilizing outcomes is studied. New performance metrics are proposed and extensive simulations are done using Matlab to obtain a thorough understanding of the performance of these algorithms on various topologies with respect to these metrics. It was observed that the algorithms proposed were able to achieve good convergence to NE resulting in efficient channel assignment strategies.

On Designing Protocols for Noncooperative, Multiradio Channel Assignment in Multiple Collision Domains

“…In fact, they are the first to study the problem of non-cooperative channel assignment in multi-channel multi-radio networks with multiple collision domains. The differences between [12] and our work are twofold. First, for system performance, our main focus is on throughput, while [12] has more significant contributions in system fairness.…”

“…Recently, Vallam, Kanagasabapathy and Murthy [12] also studied the problem of non-cooperative channel assignment in multi-channel multi-radio networks with multiple collision domains. They have obtained nice and solid results.…”

“…First, for system performance, our main focus is on throughput, while [12] has more significant contributions in system fairness. Second, in our paper, we use a payment-based approach to achieve players' incentivecompatibility with the objective of maximum system throughput, while [12] leverages advanced learning algorithm in the system convergence.…”

Distributed Joint Channel and Routing Assignment for Multimedia Wireless Mesh Networks

“…Because of the NP-hard nature of RCA, the work often considers CA and routing separately or independently [1]. Some game-based approaches presented recently focus on CA only [4], [5]. The work in [4] proposes a state-of-the-art game-based CA approach called GBCA (Game Based Channel Assignment).…”

“…Clearly, Ψ is a monotonically increasing function, and its detailed expression can be found in [11]. From Equations (2), (4), (5) and (6), we see that the success probability of a link's transmission depends on the routing and CA.…”