Cross-Layer Resource Allocation Frameworks in Modern Networks

This thesis has investigated the limits and potentialities of modern networks, by analyzing some of the major challenges which afflict the today’s networks. Such complexity, intrinsic in the nature of novel networks architectures and communication paradigms, has opened the doors towards the re-definition of the term resource. Therefore, if in the past the resource was generally identified by the physical resource as communication channels, central processor units, storage blocks, in the modern wireless networks era the resource assumes a more flexible and heterogeneous meaning, indicating for example the virtual functions, service provider revenue and so on. The wide range of meanings which the term resource may adopt directly impacts on the objectives of the contemporary resource allocation problems. Different goals, even contrasting each other, high system conditions variability, and densification, to name a few, lead towards the substantial necessity for novel or renewed solutions, able to provide good approximations of the emerging multifaceted challenges, powerful strategies, and cross-layer effectiveness to embrace the complexity of modern problems. During this thesis, several frameworks are presented and the theoretical insight beyond their formulations is provided. Their application to diverse contexts is suggested, by introducing some adjustments respect to the traditional versions, in order to better meet the ever higher standard performance demand in service provisioning. System performance results are given and extensively discussed, providing the validity of the proposed frameworks to the problems considered.