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

不确定性在现实世界的网络系统中无处不在。例如，在计算机和通信网络中，数据流量与最终用户的行为和流行的社会事件高度耦合，两者并不总是确定性的；在现代电网中，分布式可再生能源(如风能和太阳能)对减少二氧化碳排放至关重要，但可再生能源通常具有不确定性，其可用性很难预测；在在线社交网络中，人们经常以概率的方式相互作用或关注社会事件。在所有这些网络系统中，了解不确定性是更好地控制系统的基础。特别是，回答以下问题至关重要：如何对不确定性进行建模？不确定性对网络性能有何影响？在输入不确定的情况下，如何对系统进行控制？本研究建议用随机网络演算(SNC)来解决上述基本问题，SNC是一个活跃但仍处于萌芽状态的研究领域。

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.