Locally vs. Globally Optimized Flow-Based Content Distribution to Mobile Nodes

The paper deals with efficient distribution of timely information to flows of mobile devices. We consider the case where a set of information dissemination devices (IDDs) broadcast a limited amount of information to passing mobile nodes that are moving along well-defined paths. This is the case, for example, in intelligent transportation systems. We develop a novel model that captures the main aspects of the problem, and define a new optimization problem we call MBMAP (maximum benefit message assignment problem). We study the computational complexity of this problem in the global and local cases, and provide new approximation algorithms.