CAREER: Game Theoretic Models for Cooperation in Wireless Networks

现代无线网络是复杂的动态系统，有望为公众提供互联网接入、新的商业和公共安全服务以及随时随地的世界实时信息。然而，如果没有一个统一的分析框架，无线技术的前景将无法完全实现。本研究课题是利用在复杂经济系统的分析中取得成功的博弈论，建立无线网络的分析框架。具体而言，是为了说明信息分散且有限的网络节点如何通过合作实现全网目标，而开发合作理论。这个理论是基于一个潜在的游戏的博弈论的概念，并使博弈论更有用的工程应用。 新生理论正被应用于产生用于在无线网络中控制发射功率和选择码序列的最优算法。 这项工作有望导致更有效的功率控制和干扰避免算法，从而提高无线网络的性能，并更有效地使用无线电频谱（一个重要的公共资源）。更重要的是，这项研究正在开发基础分析工具，使其他研究人员能够为各种应用创建更高效、更强大的无线网络。该项目还包括强大的教育组件，介绍K-12学生用手无线技术，旨在激发对电气和计算机工程以及无线通信的兴趣的活动。

Modern wireless networks are complex dynamic systems that promise to provide the public with Internet access, new commercial and public safety services, and real-time information about the world at any location and any time. Without a unifying analytical framework, though, the promises of wireless technology will not be fully realized. This project is exploring the application of game theory, an analysis tool that has been successful in explaining complex economic systems, to create an analytical framework for wireless networks.Specifically, the project is developing a theory of cooperation to explain how network nodes with disparate and limited information can cooperate to achieve network-wide goals. This theory is based on the game-theoretic notion of a potential game, and makes game theory more useful for engineering applications. The nascent theory is being applied to produce optimal algorithms for controlling transmission power and selecting code sequences in a wireless network. This work is expected to lead to more efficient power control and interference avoidance algorithms, thus improving the performance of wireless networks and using radio spectrum (an important public resource) more efficiently. More importantly, though, this research is developing fundamental analytical tools that will enable other researchers to create more efficient and more powerful wireless networks for a wide variety of applications.While pursuing these important research aims, the project also includes strong education components which introduce K-12 students to wireless technology with hands-on activities designed to stimulate interest in electrical and computer engineering and wireless communications.