NetSE: Small: Cooperation and Incentives in Communication and Social Networks

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

A vision of the next-generation wireless networks includes deployment of highly capable intelligent devices that connect to form high-quality high-speed wide-area wireless networks. This necessitates advances on several fronts: more efficient spectrum use by sharing among cognitive devices, more sophisticated communication schemes and new "socially-aware" network architectures. In this project, we seek to increase wireless network capacity and capabilities by a factor of 10 or more by developing mechanisms and algorithms for enhancing cooperation among users in networks by using ideas from mathematical game theory and taking advantage of social aspects of networks. This project will solve well-known hard problems in communication networks from a novel perspective, combining ideas from mathematical economics, game theory and information theory to propose incentive-informed schemes that will enable user cooperation in networks thereby paving the way for ubiquitous wireless connectivity. The project will solve long-standing unsolved problems in information theory and develop a mathematical theory of social communication networks. The project will potentially transform existing wireless and communication networks by laying foundations for a systematic study of incentives and cooperation in networks. The project will have substantial broader impact on the development of science, education, and technology: It will contribute to a novel synthesis of ideas from various disciplines. Conducted research shall be incorporated into undergraduate and graduate classroom teaching to better prepare the next generation of engineers. In the long run, the project will enable substantial increase in network capacity and technological development of "socially" smart network architectures.