Workshop on Stochasticity in Distributed Systems

Research Article

"Token" equilibria in sensor networks with multiple sponsors

  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.1109/COLCOM.2005.1651265,
        author={David A. Miller and Sameer Tilak and Tony Fountain},
        title={"Token" equilibria in sensor networks with multiple sponsors},
        proceedings={Workshop on Stochasticity in Distributed Systems},
        publisher={IEEE},
        proceedings_a={STODIS},
        year={2006},
        month={7},
        keywords={Collaboration  Contracts  Costs  Data processing  Data security  Intelligent networks  Nash equilibrium  Routing  Wireless application protocol  Wireless sensor networks},
        doi={10.1109/COLCOM.2005.1651265}
    }
    
  • David A. Miller
    Sameer Tilak
    Tony Fountain
    Year: 2006
    "Token" equilibria in sensor networks with multiple sponsors
    STODIS
    ICST
    DOI: 10.1109/COLCOM.2005.1651265
David A. Miller1,*, Sameer Tilak2,*, Tony Fountain3,*
  • 1: University of California, San Diego, Economics Department, 9500 Gilman Dr. #0508, La Jolla, CA 92093
  • 2: Binghamton University and San Diego Supercomputing Center, 9500 Gilman Dr. #0505, La Jolla, CA 92093
  • 3: San Diego Supercomputing Center, 9500 Gilman Dr. #0505, La Jolla, CA 92093
*Contact email: d9miller@ucsd.edu, tilak@sdsc.edu, fountain@sdsc.edu

Abstract

When two sponsoring organizations, working towards separate goals, can employ wireless sensor networks for a finite period of time, it can be efficiency-enhancing for the sponsors to program their sensors to cooperate. But if each sensor privately knows whether it can provide a favor in any particular period, and the sponsors cannot contract on ex post payments, then no favors are performed in any Nash equilibrium. Allowing the sponsors to contract on ex post payments, we construct equilibria based on the exchange of "tokens" that yield significant cooperation and increase expected sponsor payoffs. Increasing the sponsors' liability is beneficial because it enables them to use more tokens.