Mechanism Design Theory in Control Engineering: A Tutorial and Overview of Applications in Communication, Power Grid, Transportation, and Security Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces the fundamental principles of mechanism design theory and reviews its applications across communication, power, transportation, and security systems for control engineers.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive tutorial on mechanism design theory and highlights its recent applications in various engineering systems.

Findings

Mechanism design principles can optimize communication networks.

Application of mechanism design improves power grid security.

Transportation and security systems benefit from tailored mechanism design solutions.

Abstract

This article provides an introduction to the theory of mechanism design and its application to engineering problems. Our aim is to provide the fundamental principles of the theory of mechanism design for control engineers and theorists along with the state-of-the-art methods in engineering applications. We start our exposition with a brief overview of game theory highlighting the key notions that are necessary to introduce mechanism design, and then we offer a comprehensive discussion of the principles in mechanism design. Finally, we explore four key applications of mechanism design in engineering, i.e., communication networks, power grids, transportation, and security systems.