NeTS-WN: A Joule for your Byte: Barter-Exchange Incentive Mechanisms for Wireless Networks

该项目将探讨物物交换激励在无线网络合作中的作用。虽然合作无线技术显示出巨大的希望，但它们也需要一定程度的信任和一种“无私”的行为，这可能是不现实的。合作的终端将获得收益，但也会产生成本（浪费电池能量就是一个明显的例子）。从逻辑上讲，随着时间的推移，对大多数参与者来说，收益可能会超过成本，但在短期内，会有赢家和输家，我们不能现实地假设开明的自利会占上风。大量关于无线网络激励机制的文献都强调抽象机制，即节点因帮助其他节点而获得某种形式的奖励。这些先前的努力经常模仿复杂经济的运作。在这样做时，它们说明了这种做法所固有的困难。一个复杂经济体的有效运行需要稳定的货币、信用体系和信用价值、对事物价值的共同理解以及大量的记录保存等促成因素。也许这种复杂性在这里是没有必要的，一种基于易货和交换机制的更简单的办法可以为我们所需要的合作程度提供必要的激励。在这个项目中，我们建议探讨无线网络物物交换激励机制的作用和局限性。具体的研究任务包括通过交换带宽、网络连通性和内容来诱导节点之间合作的机制。这里提出的易货交换机制提供了一种补偿终端在收益和成本上的暂时不平等的手段。此外，它们还提供了一种机制，通过这种机制，认知无线电可以将自己组织成网络和/或在共享频谱中有效地运行。这里提出的研究与认知无线电网络的预期部署有很大的相关性，包括那些为GENI设施的无线子网计划的部署。拟议的研究活动的教育补充也将训练研究生进行合作通信，这是无线数据通信中一个新兴的兴趣领域。

This project will explore the role of barter-exchange incentives for cooperation in wireless networks. While cooperative wireless techniques show great promise, they also assume a degree of trust and a form of "selfless" behavior that may not be realistic. Cooperating terminals will accrue benefits, but they will also incur costs (wasted battery energy being an obvious example). Over time, benefits might logically be expected to exceed costs for most participants, but in the short term there will be winners and losers, and we cannot realistically assume that enlightened self-interest will prevail. The sizable literature on incentive mechanisms for wireless networks has emphasized abstract mechanisms in which nodes receive some form of credit for helping other nodes. These prior efforts often mimic the operation of a complex economy. In doing so, they illustrate the difficulties inherent in this approach. The efficient operation of a complex economy requires such enablers as a stable currency, a system of credit and credit-worthiness, a shared understanding of what things are worth, and a good deal of record keeping. It may be that this complexity is not warranted here, and that a simpler approach, based on the mechanisms of barter and exchange, can provide the necessary incentives for the degree of cooperation we require.In this project, we propose to explore the roles and limitations of barter-exchange incentive mechanisms for wireless networks. The specific research tasks include mechanisms for inducing cooperation between nodes by exchange of bandwidth, network connectivity, and content. The barter-exchange mechanisms proposed here provide a means to compensate terminals for temporal inequities in benefits and costs. Further, they also provide a mechanism by which cognitive radios can organize themselves into networks and/or operate efficiently in shared spectrums. The research proposed here is of great relevance to the anticipated deployment of cognitive radio networks including those planned for the wireless subnets of the GENI facility. The proposed educational supplement to the research activities here will also train graduate students in cooperative communications, an area of emerging interest in wireless data communications.