Collaborative Research: NeTS-NBD: Optimization and Games in Inter-domain Routing

California Institute Of Technology, Pasadena CA

Investigators

Abstract

0520349 0520318 Inter-domain routing can be viewed as a means to implement economic relationships among competing ISPs. Examination of technical details of the BGP routing protocol alone is insufficient to understand the current behavior, or predict future requirements, of global connectivity without taking into account the dynamics of the economic relationships they implement. A full account of the shortcomings of BGP, and proposals to modify it, must be developed rigorously with a clear understanding of the kinds of economic relationships and service models that it can and cannot implement well. The goal of this project is to develop a theoretical framework together with experimental capability to understand, predict, and design the interplay between economics and technologies that implement Internet connectivity. The principal investigators' (PIs) unique angle is an optimization perspective to inter-domain routing where profit maximization, physical connectivity, and AS pricing interact with routing decisions, peering structure, resource constraints, and traffic matrix. The PIs will develop mathematical models that capture the interactions between routing and economics, characterize the basic structures of BGP equilibrium and dynamics, discover and verify these properties in the operational Internet, and derive practical design and operation guidelines and algorithms. Broader Impact: Through this research, the PIs will educate a new generation of network researchers with not only strong practical skills, but also the ability and the habit of applying rigorous mathematical techniques to solve a wide range of engineering problems. They can make unique and broad impact to both the academia and the industry.