Optimal protocols promise to advance resource allocation
Resource allocation is critical for the proper functioning of many fields, such as telecommunication networks and traffic networks. The articulation of better protocols for resource management could help advance related fields, positively impacting our economies, industries and infrastructure networks. The EU-funded project PROTOCOLDESIGN (Designing optimal protocols for resource allocation games) sought to design protocols for resource allocation problems, specifically in cases where independent decision makers interact. In technical terms, designing ideal protocols involves achieving pure equilibrium existence of the strategic game induced by the protocol, as well as convergence towards equilibria by learning dynamics. It also involves considering good efficiency properties of equilibria, scalability and decentralisation of the protocol, and computational complexity. To achieve its aims, the project team selected application domains in terms of informational assumptions and developed practically relevant strategy spaces. It then linked resource allocation games with mechanism design, social choice and implementation theory. Work also involved outlining structural insights and characterisations of feasible protocols within the design spaces developed earlier. The team subsequently addressed the computational complexity of protocols and articulated polynomial time computable protocols with good welfare properties. Lastly, it tested the designed protocols in real-world scenarios. One of the key project achievements was a new model for decentralised resource allocation that incorporates network design problems, purposely designed for the field of telecommunication networks. Another was a set of mathematical tools to compute the ideal position for toll booths on the road network, potentially reducing road congestion. Both traffic and telecommunications networks can stand to benefit from the project's notable achievements in the field of resource allocation.
Keywords
Protocols, resource allocation, road congestion, telecommunications network, resource allocation games
