Two-fold pricing to guarantee individual profits and maximum social welfare in multi-hop wireless access networks

• Published in: IEEE transactions on wireless communications Vol. 8; no. 8; pp. 4110 - 4121
• Main Authors: Mohsenian-Rad, A.-H., Wong, V.W.S., Leung, V.C.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-08-2009; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Aggregates; Allocations; Applied sciences; Collaboration; Exact sciences and technology; Forward contracts; Interference; Mathematical models; Multi-hop wireless access networks; network optimization; Networks; Pricing; Relay; Relays; Resource management; social welfare; Spread spectrum communication; Studies; Switching and signalling; Systems, networks and services of telecommunications; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Transmission and modulation (techniques and equipments); two-fold pricing; Utility programs; Wireless communication; Wireless networks; Multiple access; Packet switching; Relay; Multi-hop wireless access networks; Wireless telecommunication; Resource allocation; Information rate; Social network; network optimization; Information transmission; Nodes; Optimization; Multihop network; social welfare; Simulation; Optimal allocation; Pricing; two-fold pricing; Access network; Wireless network; Open market; Tariffication; interference; Resource management
• ISSN: 1536-1276; 1558-2248
• DOI: 10.1109/TWC.2009.080568

In a multi-hop wireless access network, where each node is an independent self-interested commercial entity, pricing is helpful not only to encourage collaboration but also to utilize the network resources efficiently. In this paper, we propose a market-based model with two-fold pricing (TFP) for wireless access networks. In our model, the relay-pricing is used to encourage nodes to forward packets for other nodes. Each node receives a payment for the relay service that it provides. We also consider interference-pricing to leverage optimal resource allocation. Together, the relay and interference prices incorporate both cooperative and competitive interactions among the nodes. We prove that TFP guarantees positive profit for each individual wireless node for a wide range of pricing functions. The profit increases as the node forwards more packets. Thus, the cooperative nodes are well rewarded. We then determine the relay and interference pricing functions such that the network social welfare and the aggregate network utility are maximized. Simulation results show that, compared to two recently proposed single-fold pricing models, where only the relay or only the interference prices are considered, our proposed TFP scheme significantly increases the total network profit as well as the aggregate network throughput. TFP also leads to more fair revenue sharing among the wireless relay nodes.