Bounds on Benefits and Harms of Adding Connections to Noncooperative Networks

Abstract. In computer networks (and, say, transportation networks), we can consider the situation where each user has its own routing decision so as to minimize noncooperatively the expected passage time of its packet/job given the routing decisions of other users. Intuitively, it is anticipated that adding connections to such a noncooperative network may bring benefits at least to some users. The Braess paradox is, however, the first example of paradoxical cases where it is not always the case. This paper studies the bounds on the degrees of coincident cost improvement (benefits) and degradation (harms) for all users by adding connections to noncooperative networks. For Wardrop networks (noncooperative networks with infinitesimal users), the degree of benefits for all users can increase without bound by adding connections whereas no Wardrop network has been found for which the degree of harms can increase without bound for all users. In contrast, for Nash networks (noncooperative netw...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: NETWORKING
• Authors: Hisao Kameda
• Keywords: NETWORKING 2004, NETWORKING 2007, Noncooperative Networks, Routing Decisions, Wardrop Networks