Competition and equilibrium in multiuser networks with multiple service providers

This paper studies the issue of resource allocation in multiuser wireless networks with multiple service providers. We investigate the feasibility of modeling the resource allocation problem as a voting game and study the resulting strategic behaviors of the agents. In other words, competing transmitters are modeled as candidates in an election, while the receivers form the electorate. We study both deterministic and stochastic voting models and point out the salient features of each. The existence and structure of equilibrium outcomes of the proposed voting game for wireless networks are studied in detail. Finally, simulation results are presented to verify the performance of the proposed voting-theoretic mechanism.