Incentive Engineering at Congested Wireless Access Points Using an Integrated Multiple Time Scale Control Mechanism

Wireless networks are playing an increasingly important role for voice and data communications. It is estimated that the number of wireless network subscribers soon exceeds the number of wireline network subscribers. To efficiently support a large number of mobile users with a diversity of applications utilizing the scarce and limited radio resources in wireless networks, many resource allocation mechanisms have been proposed based on different metrics. Nevertheless, the fundamental problem of how to apply business rules to optimize configuration of devices, services and networks has not been widely addressed in most proposed resource management solutions. In this paper, we propose a novel incentive engineering mechanism called the integrated multiple time scale control (IMTSC) mechanism that integrates users' objectives of service differentiation and utility maximization with service providers' objectives of maximizing revenue and network efficiency. IMTSC utilizes a multiple time scale control mechanism with cumulus points to track each user's instantaneous traffic for better control of temporary network congestion, and the nuglet mechanism for admission control accounting for multiple charging factors. We provide a qualitative evaluation to show that our IMTSC mechanism provides a good balance among various perspectives that define the overall performance of a charging scheme