Utility-based Resource and QoS Optimization in Packet Networks - link and network level optimization

Resource Allocation (RA) is used to organize the usage of networks physical resources in such a way that guarantees optimal utilization while providing predictive performance to network flows in terms of inter-flow fairness and guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS). One approach to provide RA which is particularly suitable for traffic flows with relaxed QoS requirements (i.e. elastic traffic) is the Utility- based Resource Allocation (URA). URA assigns a utility function to each individual user flow to measure the degree of satisfaction of this user as a result of assigning a specific share of resources. The objective of the URA techniques is then to partition the network resources to take full advantage of them in satisfying the QoS requirements of each user flow while providing fair allocation of resource among users by maximizing the aggregate utility of all flows. The objective of this work is to propose a comprehensive set of algorithms that can be used to provide resource optimization both on the link level or on the network level.