title: Optimal rate allocation in cluster-tree WSNs.
abstract: In this paper, we propose a solution to the problem of guaranteed time slot allocation in cluster-tree WSNs. Our design uses the so-called Network Utility Maximization (NUM) approach as far as we aim to provide a fair distribution of the available resources. From the point of view of implementation, we extend here the authors' proposed Coupled-Decompositions Method (CDM) in order to compute the NUM problem inside the cluster tree topology and we prove the optimality of this new extended version of the method. As a result, we obtain a distributed solution that reduces the total amount of signalling information in the network up to a factor of 500 with respect to the classical techniques, that is, primal and dual decomposition. This is possible because the CDM finds the optimal solution with a small number of iterations. Furthermore, when we compare our solution to the standard-proposed First Come First Serve (FCFS) policy, we realize that FCFS becomes pretty unfair as the traffic load in the network increases and thus, a fair allocation of resources can be considered whenever the price to pay in terms of signalling and computational complexity is controlled.
authors.affiliation: Telecommunications and Systems Engineering Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain. antoni.morell@uab.cat
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morell
authors.forename: Jose Lopez
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vicario
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Vilajosana
authors.forename: Ignasi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vilajosana
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Seco-Granados
mesh_terms: D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D006801:Humans; D059015:Wireless Technology