Physical interference model based spectrum sharing with generalized spatial congestion games

Richard Southwell, Jianwei Huang, Biying Shou

Abstract: With the rapid development of heterogeneous wireless technologies, the issue of how selfish wireless users can share spectrum is becoming increasingly relevant. In this paper we introduce the generalized spatial congestion game (GSCG), and use it to model wireless spectrum sharing over a large area. The idea behind the GSCG is to think of the players as vertices in a weighted graph. The amount of congestion two players cause each other (when they use the same resource) is determined by the weight of the edge linking them. The GSCG is more suitable for modeling spectrum sharing than many previously considered models, because one can select the edge weights and payoff functions to correspond with several practical interference models (such as the physical interference model). We focus on determining which GSCGs possess pure Nash equilibria (i.e., mutually acceptable resource allocations), and how selfish players can organize themselves into pure Nash equilibria.