On the Equilibrium of resource allocation for heterogeneous wireless access networks

Abstract

In this paper, we present a game theoretic approach to achieve load balancing within heterogeneous wireless environments. We deploy a number of access elements, which differ in terms of both coverage and capacity. We assume that access elements are able to limit the resources they provide to a certain area, leading to a number of different strategies. We also derive the expected benefits for each of them and we pose a discrete and finite game which is solved with the Gambit tool so as to obtain the Nash Equilibrium, which we consider as the optimum strategy. The paper shows that the use of such strategy brings about some benefit, in terms of the load carried by the network, and that it becomes more relevant for those technologies which have less capacity and coverage.