Optimal control of epidemic evolution

—Epidemic models based on nonlinear differential equations have been extensively applied in a variety of systems as diverse as infectious outbreaks, marketing, diffusion of beliefs, etc., to the dissemination of messages in MANET or p2p networks. Control of such systems is achieved at the cost of consuming the resources. We construct a unifying framework that models the interactions of the control and the elements in systems with epidemic behavior. Specifically, we consider nonreplicative and replicative dissemination of messages in a network: a pre-determined set of disseminators distribute the messages in the former, whereas the disseminator set continually grows in the latter as the nodes that receive the patch become disseminators themselves. In both cases, the desired trade-offs can be attained by activating at any given time only fractions of disseminators and selecting their dissemination rates. We formulate the above trade-offs as optimal control problems that seek to minimi...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: INFOCOM
• Authors: M. H. R. Khouzani, Saswati Sarkar, Eitan Altman
• Keywords: Communications, Epidemic Behavior, Epidemic Models, INFOCOM 2011, Optimal Control Problems