Resource allocation for multiagent problems in the design of future communication networks

Report: EECE-TR-07-001 new architecture for a smarter Internet abstracts the functional components of the network from the hardware that enables it. This is done via software agents that implement such functions and are capable of relocating them-selves over the network to optimize resources. To achieve that we need an algorithm that governs the way agents distribute themselves in the physical network, and this paper presents our first effort towards this goal. We for-mulate the problem as an optimization problem, where agents must be distributed in the network, and can receive resources from the nodes they occupy according to their task requirements. This optimization problem is then solved in a hierarchical manner: A centralized (randomized) algorithm optimizes the agent distribution among the nodes, and a decentralized (convex optimization) algorithm performs the resource allocation within each node. We present simulation results showing that the hierarchical optimization algorithm achieves the desired objective. Finally we discuss our next steps towards decentralizing the proposed algorithm.