A Nash bargaining solution for energy-efficient content distribution over wireless networks with mobile-to-mobile cooperation

A game theoretical formulation for energy minimization in mobile-to-mobile cooperative networks is provided. The problem is formulated as a Nash bargaining game, and the Nash bargaining solution is derived. Furthermore, a low complexity utility minimization algorithm is presented. Using the appropriate utilities, the proposed algorithm is used to implement both the proposed solution in addition to the greedy energy minimization solution. Results show that a good tradeoff between energy reduction and fairness is obtained by the Nash bargaining solution. In addition, when Rayleigh fading is considered, the optimal greedy solution is shown to lead to long term fairness, although it is instantaneously unfair towards one of the mobile terminals.