Dual Methods for Optimal Allocation of Telecommunication Network Resources with Several Classes of Users

Abstract

We consider a general problem of optimal allocation of limited resources in a wireless telecommunication network. The network users are divided into several different groups (or classes), which correspond to different levels of service. The network manager must satisfy these different users’ requirements. This approach leads to a convex optimization problem with balance and capacity constraints. We present several decomposition type methods to find a solution to this problem, which exploit its special features. We suggest applying first the dual Lagrangian method with respect to the total capacity constraint, which gives the one-dimensional dual problem. However, calculation of the value of the dual cost function requires solving several optimization problems. Our methods differ in approaches for solving these auxiliary problems. We consider three basic methods: Dual Multi Layer (DML), Conditional Gradient Dual Multilayer (CGDM) and Bisection (BS). Besides these methods we consider their modifications adjusted to different kind of cost functions. Our comparison of the performance of the suggested methods on several series of test problems show satisfactory convergence. Nevertheless, proper decomposition techniques enhance the convergence essentially.

Keywords

• telecommunication networks
• wireless networks
• service levels
• resource allocation
• optimization problem
• decomposition methods
• Lagrange duality