A new economic generalized particle model for flow control

The problem of bandwidth allocation in computer networks can be likened to the supply-demand problem in economics. This paper presents the economic generalized particle model (EGPM) approach to intelligent allocation of network bandwidth. EGPM is a significant extension and further development of the generalized particle model (GPM) [1]. The approach comprises two major components: (1) dynamic allocation of network bandwidth based on GPM: and (2) dynamic modulation of price and demands of network bandwidth. The resulting algorithm can be easily implemented in a distributed fashion. Pricing being the network control mechanism in EGPM is carried out by a tatonnement process. We discuss the EGPM's convergence and show that the approach is efficient in achieving the global Pareto optimum. Via simulations, we test the approach, analyze its parameters and compare it with GPM and a genetic-algorithm-based solution. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.