CAREER: Enforceable Economic Mechanisms for Cooperation in Wireless Networks

计算硬件和无线技术的最新进展已经导致涉及高度分布式无线网络的应用和系统的广泛普及。在这样的网络中，每个节点可能属于一个独立的组织或个人，有自己的利益，因此可能并不总是希望合作。然而，如果这些节点不合作，网络的性能可能会下降，或者整个网络可能会变得功能失调。 因此，我们需要设计经济机制来刺激这些节点进行合作。在这个项目中，我们研究可执行的经济机制的设计。我们说一个经济机制是可执行的，如果它提供了足够强的激励合作行为和安全保护，防止作弊，并已在实验中进行了系统的评估。我们强调使经济机制具有可执行性的重要性，因为如果经济机制不能执行，就不能在实践中有效地利用它来模拟合作。我们的研究计划是集中在两个具体的问题，即路由和分组转发问题和FDMA信道分配问题，因为它们是简单的，但基本的。除了这两个问题之外，还计划研究系统评估无线网络中经济机制的激励兼容性和计算和通信效率的实验方法，以及无线网络中其他一些非合作问题。此外，该计划还包括开展教育活动，向本科生和研究生传播关于无线网络合作的前沿知识。

Recent advances in computing hardware and wireless technology have resulted in widespread popularity of applications and systems involving highly distributed wireless networks. In such a network, each node may belong to an independent organization or individual that has its own interests, and so may not always want to behave cooperatively. However, if these nodes do not cooperate, the performance of the network may degrade, or the entire network may become dysfunctional. Consequently, we need to design economic mechanisms to stimulate these nodes to cooperate. In this project, we study the design of enforceable economic mechanisms. We say an economic mechanism is enforceable if it provides sufficiently strong incentivesfor cooperative behavior and security protection against cheating and has been systematically evaluated in experiments. We emphasize the great importance to make economic mechanisms enforceable because if an economic mechanism is not enforceable, it cannot be effectively used in practice to simulate cooperation. Our research plan is to focus on two specific problems, namely the Routing and Packet Forwarding Problem and the FDMA Channel Assignment Problem, because they are simple but fundamental. Besides these two problems, it is also planned to study experimental methods for systematically evaluating the incentive compatibility and computation and communication efficiency of economic mechanisms in wireless networks, as well as a few other selected problems of non-cooperation in wireless networks. In addition, the plan includes education activities to disseminate cutting-edge knowledge on cooperation in wireless networks to undergraduate and graduate students.