Game Theory Based Bandwidth Allocation Scheme for Network Virtualization

Running multiple virtual networks over a shared physical network is a promising way to support diverse applications, consequently network virtualization is viewed as the keystone of the next-generation architecture. However, decoupling the role of traditional ISPs into Infrastructure Providers (InPs) and Service Providers (SPs), also brings some new challenges to us. For example, how to fairly and efficiently share the sacred physical resources of InPs among multiple SPs is a key problem. The interaction between InPs and SPs, such as cooperation and competition, makes this topic even more complicated. In this paper, we develop a novel approach to encourage efficient behavior in solving the interaction between InPs and SPs by introducing economic incentives, in the form of Game Theory. Based on the non-cooperative game model, a bandwidth allocation scheme in the network virtualization environment is established, using the concept of the Nash Equilibrium. Then we propose an iterative algorithm to find the Nash Equilibrium and solve the bandwidth allocation problem. Finally, we demonstrate the convergence and the effectiveness of our scheme in the experiments.