Joint Node Placement and Assignment for Throughput Optimization in Mobile Backbone Networks

We study the novel hierarchical architecture of Mobile Backbone Networks. In such networks, a set of mobile backbone nodes (MBNs) are deployed to provide an end-to-end communications capability for the regular nodes (RNs). In this work, we address the joint problem of placing a fixed number K MBNs in the plane, and assigning each RN to exactly one MBN. We formulate and solve two problems under a general communications model. The first is the maximum fair placement and assignment (MFPA) problem in which the objective is to maximize the throughput of the minimum throughput RN. The second is the maximum throughput placement and assignment (MTPA) problem, in which the objective is to maximize the aggregate throughput of the RNs. Our main result is a novel optimal polynomial time algorithm for the MFPA problem for fixed K. For a restricted version of the MTPA problem, we develop an optimal polynomial time algorithm for Kles2. We also develop two heuristic algorithms for both problems, including an approximation algorithm for which we bound the worst case performance loss. Finally, we present simulation results comparing the performance of the various algorithms developed in the paper.