Online control techniques for optimal management of bandwidth over shared infrastructure networks

In this paper, we provide an online monitor and control approach to manage bandwidth allocations on a shared network infrastructure in a QoS-aware application setting. Accurate management of bandwidth allocations with a goal of maximizing the revenues is quite complex, due to the interactions among various data flows that dynamically share the network bandwidth. We adopt a heuristics-aided control strategy that iteratively adjusts the bandwidth allocation based on the observed packet loss rate and delays. The paper first demonstrates the existence of a globally optimal operating point that minimizes the total bandwidth cost over a large number of flows while keeping the end-to-end packet delays within a prescribed limit. We then provide an algorithmic framework to search for this optimal point with an imprecise knowledge of the overall system model. Our optimization strategy for the QoS adaptation problem offers a unified management framework that considers both the bandwidth cost and the end-user QoS - and is hence useful for connectivity service providers.