Distributed Resource Allocation for Collaborative Data Uploading in Body-to-Body Networks

In this paper, we study a body-to-body network (BBN) framework, which enables wireless body area network (WBAN) users located in close proximity to cooperate and share their network resources to improve the overall network performance. Our main aim is to design a distributed resource allocation mechanism that encourages each participating WBAN user to participate and upload each other’s data collaboratively. We propose an auction-based mechanism that optimizes data uploading for all participating users and the corresponding reimbursement. In the proposed auction mechanism, each user acts as both auctioneer and bidder. Fist, the auctioneer initiates the auction by announcing the amount of resource it wants to share and its price and each bidder submits their bid to each auctioneer based on its demand. We further propose a distributed algorithm for the auction mechanism that jointly solves both the auctioneers’ and the bidders’ optimization problems and determines the optimal amount of resource users should reserve for their own and the portion they should share. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates that the proposed distributed algorithm converges to the solution that maximizes the aggregated benefit of the users. Finally, the simulation results exhibit that the proposed algorithm always improves WBAN user’s individual performance together with overall BBN performance.