Network Utility Maximization with Heterogeneous Traffic Flows

TL;DR

This paper introduces UMW+, a novel cross-layer control policy for wireless networks that optimally manages diverse traffic types, ensuring maximum utility and network stability through Lyapunov optimization and virtual queue analysis.

Contribution

The paper develops UMW+, a new universal control policy for heterogeneous traffic in wireless networks, with proven optimality and stability guarantees, extending prior frameworks.

Findings

UMW+ achieves optimal network utility.

UMW+ maintains bounded queue occupancy.

Virtual queue dynamics correspond to dual variables in NUM.

Abstract

We consider the Network Utility Maximization (NUM) problem for wireless networks in the presence of arbitrary types of flows, including unicast, broadcast, multicast, and anycast traffic. Building upon the recent framework of a universal control policy (UMW), we design a utility optimal cross-layer admission control, routing and scheduling policy, called UMW+. The UMW+ policy takes packet level actions based on a precedence-relaxed virtual network. Using Lyapunov optimization techniques, we show that UMW+ maximizes network utility, while simultaneously keeping the physical queues in the network stable. Extensive simulation results validate the performance of UMW+; demonstrating both optimal utility performance and bounded average queue occupancy. Moreover, we establish a precise one-to-one correspondence between the dynamics of the virtual queues under the UMW+ policy, and the dynamics of the dual variables of an associated offline NUM program, under a subgradient algorithm. This correspondence sheds further insight into our understanding of UMW+.