Competition Between Service Providers With Strategic Resource Allocation: Application to Network Slicing

We propose and analyze a business model for a set of operators that use the same physical network. Each operator is entitled to a share of a network operated by an Infrastructure Provider (InP) and uses network slicing mechanisms to request network resources as needed for service provision. The netw...

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Main Authors: Luis Guijarro, Jose-Ramon Vidal, Vicent Pla
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2021-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9426912/
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author Luis Guijarro
Jose-Ramon Vidal
Vicent Pla
author_facet Luis Guijarro
Jose-Ramon Vidal
Vicent Pla
author_sort Luis Guijarro
collection DOAJ
description We propose and analyze a business model for a set of operators that use the same physical network. Each operator is entitled to a share of a network operated by an Infrastructure Provider (InP) and uses network slicing mechanisms to request network resources as needed for service provision. The network operators become Network Slice Tenants (NSTs). The InP performs the resource allocation based on a vector of weights chosen selfishly by each NST. The weights distribute the NST’s share of resources between its subscribers in each cell. We model this relationship as a game propose a solution for the Nash equilibrium in which each NST chooses weights equal to the product of its share by the ratio between the total number of subscribers in the cell and the total number of subscribers in the network. We characterize the proposed solution in terms of subscription ratios and fractions of subscribers, for different cell capacities and user sensitivities. The proposed solution provides the exact values for the Nash equilibrium if the cells are homogeneous in terms of normalized capacity, which is a measure of the total amount of resources available in the cell. Otherwise, if the cells are heterogeneous, it provides an accurate approximation. We quantify the deviation from the equilibrium and conclude that it is highly accurate.
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spelling doaj.art-69bbf579c3cf4bcc850383f689f88cdc2022-12-21T22:12:10ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362021-01-019765037651710.1109/ACCESS.2021.30785629426912Competition Between Service Providers With Strategic Resource Allocation: Application to Network SlicingLuis Guijarro0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9774-9728Jose-Ramon Vidal1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7137-1349Vicent Pla2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0894-9494Departamento de Comunicaciones, Universitat Politècnica de València, València, SpainDepartamento de Comunicaciones, Universitat Politècnica de València, València, SpainDepartamento de Comunicaciones, Universitat Politècnica de València, València, SpainWe propose and analyze a business model for a set of operators that use the same physical network. Each operator is entitled to a share of a network operated by an Infrastructure Provider (InP) and uses network slicing mechanisms to request network resources as needed for service provision. The network operators become Network Slice Tenants (NSTs). The InP performs the resource allocation based on a vector of weights chosen selfishly by each NST. The weights distribute the NST’s share of resources between its subscribers in each cell. We model this relationship as a game propose a solution for the Nash equilibrium in which each NST chooses weights equal to the product of its share by the ratio between the total number of subscribers in the cell and the total number of subscribers in the network. We characterize the proposed solution in terms of subscription ratios and fractions of subscribers, for different cell capacities and user sensitivities. The proposed solution provides the exact values for the Nash equilibrium if the cells are homogeneous in terms of normalized capacity, which is a measure of the total amount of resources available in the cell. Otherwise, if the cells are heterogeneous, it provides an accurate approximation. We quantify the deviation from the equilibrium and conclude that it is highly accurate.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9426912/Competitionnetwork economicsnetwork slice tenantsnetwork slicingresource allocation
spellingShingle Luis Guijarro
Jose-Ramon Vidal
Vicent Pla
Competition Between Service Providers With Strategic Resource Allocation: Application to Network Slicing
IEEE Access
Competition
network economics
network slice tenants
network slicing
resource allocation
title Competition Between Service Providers With Strategic Resource Allocation: Application to Network Slicing
title_full Competition Between Service Providers With Strategic Resource Allocation: Application to Network Slicing
title_fullStr Competition Between Service Providers With Strategic Resource Allocation: Application to Network Slicing
title_full_unstemmed Competition Between Service Providers With Strategic Resource Allocation: Application to Network Slicing
title_short Competition Between Service Providers With Strategic Resource Allocation: Application to Network Slicing
title_sort competition between service providers with strategic resource allocation application to network slicing
topic Competition
network economics
network slice tenants
network slicing
resource allocation
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9426912/
work_keys_str_mv AT luisguijarro competitionbetweenserviceproviderswithstrategicresourceallocationapplicationtonetworkslicing
AT joseramonvidal competitionbetweenserviceproviderswithstrategicresourceallocationapplicationtonetworkslicing
AT vicentpla competitionbetweenserviceproviderswithstrategicresourceallocationapplicationtonetworkslicing