Distributed Rate Allocation for Network-Coded Multicast Networks

This letter addresses a distributed rate allocation for a class of multicast networks employing linear network coding. The goal is to minimize the cost, e.g., the sum rate allocated to links in the network, while satisfying a multicast rate requirement for each users in the network. In essence, it aims to achieve the network capacity while ensuring that the operation cost is minimal. This letter uses an alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) framework to obtain a distributed algorithm for the rate allocation. Simulation results demonstrate the convergence of this algorithm to the optimal solution.