A Calculus Approach for Stochastic Networks: From Communication Networks to Smart Grids to Internet Water Army

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Uncertainty is ubiquitous in real-world network systems. For example, in computer and communication networks, data traffic is highly coupled with end users' behavior and popular social events, both of which are not always deterministic; in modern power grids, distributed renewable energy sources (e.g., wind and solar energy) are important to reduce carbon dioxide emission, but renewable energy sources are normally uncertain, and their availability is hard to predict; in online social networks, people often interact with each other or follow social events in a probabilistic fashion. In all these network systems, it is fundamental to understand the uncertainty for better system control. In particular, it is critical to answer the following questions: How to model the uncertainty? What is the impact of uncertainty on the network performance? How to control the system in the presence of uncertain input? This research proposal addresses the above fundamental questions with Stochastic Network Calculus (SNC), an active yet still-nascent research field.