Fair allocation of discrete bandwidth layers in multicast networks

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Abstract
We study fairness when receivers in a multicast network can not subscribe to fractional layers. This case arises when the source hierarchically encodes its signal and the hierarchical structure is predetermined. Unlike the case of the fractional layer allocation, which has been studied extensively in (Sarkar and Tassiulas, 1999), bandwidth can be allocated in discrete chunks only. Fairness issues become vastly different. Computation of lexicographic optimal rate allocation becomes NP-hard in this case, while lexicographic optimal rate allocation is polynomial complexity computable when fractional layers can be allocated. Furthermore, the maxmin fair rate vector may not exist in this case. We introduce a new notion of fairness, maximal fairness. We propose a polynomial complexity algorithm for computation of maximally fair rates allocated to various source-destination pairs. Even though maximal fairness is a weaker notion of fairness, it coincides with lexicographic optimality and maxmin fairness, when maxmin fair rate allocation exists. So the algorithm for computing maximally fair rate allocation computes maxmin fair rate allocation, when the latter exists.

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