Network Control: A Rate-Distortion Perspective

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel network control framework that integrates source-rate and source-distortion considerations, providing an optimal decomposition into application, transport, and network layers for lossy data like video.

Contribution

It develops a rate-distortion based network control framework and proves the optimality of its layered decomposition for concave utility functions.

Findings

Decomposition into application, transport, and network layers is optimal.

Framework incorporates source-rate and source-distortion in network control.

Provides insights into lossy compression in network management.

Abstract

Today's networks are controlled assuming pre-compressed and packetized data. For video, this assumption of data packets abstracts out one of the key aspects - the lossy compression problem. Therefore, first, this paper develops a framework for network control that incorporates both source-rate and source-distortion. Next, it decomposes the network control problem into an application-layer compression control, a transport-layer congestion control and a network-layer scheduling. It is shown that this decomposition is optimal for concave utility functions. Finally, this paper derives further insights from the developed rate-distortion framework by focusing on specific problems.