A GAME THEORETIC PERSPECTIVE TO FLOW-CONTROL IN TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORKS

Multiple classes of traffic with differing and often conflicting requi rements arise in an integrated telecommunications environment as users share the limited existing resources. In this paper, a game theoretic perspective is presented and analysed as the appropriate framework fo r the study of the flow control problem. Using the notion of power as the performance criterion, we compare a network-Pareto optimal solutio n-with two user optimal solutions-Nash and Stackelberg equilibria. The appropriateness of each solution is discussed given the operating cha racteristics of the system. A proposed greedy algorithm is shown to co nverge to the Nash equilibrium.