Game theory for B5G upper-tier resource allocation using network slicing

Abstract

Network slicing (NS) has emerged as a promising solution that enables network operators to slice network resources such as spectrum and bandwidth to adapt to different beyond 5G scenarios. This allows new operators to enter the market: the infrastructure provider (InP), who owns the infrastructure, and the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), who may purchase a resource slice from the InP to provide a specific service to their end-users. To better deal with the resource allocation problem, efficient algorithms and methods have been done such as the auction model, bidding method, and game theory. This paper presents an upper-tier resource allocation based on game theory. This mechanism considers a single base station (BS) and multi MVNOs-users that share aggregated bandwidth radio access networks to maximize utilized BS resources. The proposed method takes both the bandwidth utilization of BS and the service requirements of MVNO users. Accordingly, the Game Theory solution takes two contradictory objectives: the InP aims to maximize its revenue while the MVNOs want to serve their users by paying the minimum amount. We prove that our proposal achieves an optimal solution from both InP and MVNOs’ in terms of revenue and quality of service .