Lecture: 3 hours
Discussion: 1 hour
Prerequisite: ECS 252
Grading: Letter; reports on papers (50%), project (50%)
Catalog Description:
Research issues in the application of pricing and incentive based models
in computer networks: networks services and applications, QoS and SLAs;
economic principles of demand and supply, utilities and welfare, network
externalities, economic efficiency; competitive and cooperative models;
games and NAsh Equilibrium; flat pricing and congestion sensitive pricing;
incentive and free-riding; and application.
Goals:
The goal of this course is to identify and understand the key research
issues in application of economic principles in the design of protocols
and architectures to support new multimedia applications in next generation
wired, wireless, mobile, and adhoc networks.
Expanded Course Description:
I. Communication Networks
A. Overview of Networking Technologies
B. Network Services
C. Application Characteristics
D. QoS (Quality of Service)
E. Service Level Agreements
II. Economic Principles
A. Market MechanismsIII. Competition
B. Utility and Welfare
C. Walrasian Equilibrium
D. Pareto Efficiency
E. Network Externalities
A. MonopolyIV. Cooperation
B. Perfect Competition
C. Games
D. Nash Equilibrium
A. Incentive for cooperationV. Pricing
B. Free ride
C. Rational Street Performer Protocol
A. Flat-rateVI . Applications
B. Time-of-day pricing
C. Congestion Pricing
D. Paris Mertro Pricing
E. Auctions
A. Differentiated Services
B. Incentives for Cooperation in P2P Networks
C. Pricing in Wireless Networks
D. Multicasting
E. Cooperative Models in Ad Hoc Networks
Textbook:
Internet Economics, Edited by Lee W. McKnight and Joseph P. Bailey
Pricing Communication Networks: Economics, Technology and Modelling,
C. Courcoubetis and Richard Webber
Selected research papers from conferences and journals
Computer Usage:
Lectures and discussions will prepare students for development of individual
or group-based projects relating to current studies in pricing and incentive
models in computer networks. The project may involve the use of computer-based
simulations for design and performance analysis.
Project:
Students will review current technical papers. Based on the reviews and
class discussions, the students will design and analyze new protocols
that incorporate pricing and incentive models in the design of computer
networks and applications.
Instructor: X. Liu and D. Ghosal
Prepared by: D. Ghosal (November 2003)
Overlap Statement:
There is no significant overlap with other courses.