Adaptation-based programming for network protocol design: An 802.11x case study (abstract)

The design of network protocols is a complicated and tedious endeavor. For instance, designing a MAC layer protocol for the 802.11 standard typically involves a number of high-level decisions (e.g., conditions for backoff steps) followed by an individual tuning of numeric parameters (e.g., backoff factors), for a variety of network conditions. A different way to view this design process is that of a designer being forced to fully specify a solution to a complex problem. At the other extreme of the programming spectrum lie reinforcement learning techniques which only require a minimal problem specification from the programmer. Adaptation-Based Programming (ABP) is a novel programming paradigm which bridges the gap between the above extremes. ABP allows a programmer to specify as much of the solution they want and have the learning system optimize the rest.