Comparative study of price-based resource allocation algorithms for ad hoc networks

As mobile ad hoc networks provide a wide range of possibly critical services, providing quality of service guarantees becomes an essential element. Yet there is a limited understanding of the performance characteristics of different resource allocation algorithms. In particular, there is little work that comparatively studies different algorithms in the same traffic environment. Therefore we study two algorithms, ad hoc-TARA and an algorithm based on the gradient projection method, for optimised bandwidth allocation in ad hoc networks under overload situations. The focus is on convergence properties and performance measured in terms of accumulated utility. The simulation results show that the gradient projection algorithm converges to an optimal solution even in large, dynamic networks, but that in such dynamic environments the convergence time can significantly influence the overall performance. In comparison, the near-optimal algorithm ad hoc-TARA, which quickly adapts to changes in the state of the network, can exhibit superior performance. Further we illustrate how different parameter settings influence the performance of the algorithms. We conclude that finding an optimal allocation comes at a high price in the rapidly changing environments of ad hoc networks and that near-optimal allocation can be an ample alternative