CAREER: Regulation of Packet-Switched Networks: Stochastic Optimal Control Models and Computational Methods

网络研究界最近对提供差异化服务类型的可能性产生了兴趣，这些服务类型是动态定价的，以促进网络资源的有利消耗。定价可以作为拥塞控制（分组调节）的一种手段，也可以作为基础设施提供商成本回收的一种手段，这一点被广泛推测，但远未明确。本文将探讨前一种说法。目前控制信息流的机制，虽然经常被硬工程分析证明是合理的，但它们在某种意义上是特别的，因为它们不是被认为是随机最优控制问题的解决方案。基于学习的机制可能对处理和区分服务有用。本课题的研究目标有两个：1.研究目标；发展基于随机最优控制的分组管理技术机制，并通过数学和计算分析建立这一观点在网络中的普遍适用性；减轻计算复杂性对解决现实世界随机最优控制问题的影响，促进基于实用学习的计算方法的发展。本提案的教育目标是1。为本科生和研究生提供学习一般研究方法的平台：建模、优化、分析和设计；和具体的技术专长：随机最优控制，计算方法和数据通信的前沿；***向尽可能广泛的受众，包括电讯业传播建议的研究结果

9875688PatekThe networking research community has recently become intrigued with the possibility of offer-ing differentiated service types which are dynamically priced to enc~6rage favorable consumption of network resources. It is widely speculated but far from clear that pricing can serve as a means of congestion control (packet regulation) as well as a means of cost recovery for infrastructure providers. This work will explore the former assertion. Current mechanisms for the control of packet flows, while often justified by hard engineering anal-ysis, are ad hoc in the sense that they are not conceived as solutions to stochastic optimal control problems. Learning is based mechanisms may be useful in coping with and differentiated services. The research objectives of this proposal are twofold:1. to develop technological mechanisms for packet regulation based on stochastic optimal control and to establish the general applicability of this perspective in networking through mathe-matical and computational analysis, and2. to mitigate the effect of computational complexity in solving real-world stochastic optimal control problems and to promote the development of practical learning based computational methods.The education objectives of this proposal are1. to provide a vehicle by which undergraduate and graduate students will learngeneral approaches to research: modeling, optimization, analysis, and design; andspecific technological expertise: stochastic optimal control, computational methods, andthe cutting edge of data communications, and2. to disseminate the results of the proposed research to as broad an audience as possible, including the telecommunications industry.***