Electrical and Electronic Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemAn Information Analysis of Iterative Algorithms for Network Utility Maximization and Strategic Games(IEEE, 2019)A variety of resource allocation problems on networked systems, for example, those in cyber-physical systems or Internet-of-things applications, require distributed solution methods. Modern distributed algorithms usually require bandwidth-limited digital communication between the system and its users, who are often modeled as independent decision makers with individual preferences. This paper presents a quantitative information flow and knowledge gain analysis of decentralized iterative algorithms with bounded trajectories in the context of convex network utility maximization problems and strategic games with a unique Nash equilibrium solution. First, a novel generic framework is introduced to quantify knowledge gain in network resource allocation problems using entropy by taking into account priors in the solution space. Second, a general result is presented on the interplay between quantization of information and distributed algorithm performance both for linear and sublinear convergence. Third, information flow in distributed algorithms is studied and a lower bound is derived on the total amount of information exchanged for convergence under uniform quantization. The well-known primal-dual decomposition algorithm is used as an example to illustrate the results. Finally, convergence guarantees for distributed algorithms with estimation are investigated. This paper establishes specific links between information concepts and iterative algorithms in addition to building a foundation for integrating learning schemes into distributed optimization.
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ItemImpact of quantized inter-agent communications on game-theoretic and distributed optimization algorithms(Springer, 2018-01-01)Quantized inter-agent communications in game-theoretic and distributed optimization algorithms generate uncertainty that affects the asymptotic and transient behavior of such algorithms. This chapter uses the information-theoretic notion of differential entropy power to establish universal bounds on the maximum exponential convergence rates of primal-dual and gradient-based Nash seeking algorithms under quantized communications. These bounds depend on the inter-agent data rate and the local behavior of the agents’ objective functions, and are independent of the quantizer structure. The presented results provide trade-offs between the speed of exponential convergence, the agents’ objective functions, the communication bit rates, and the number of agents and constraints. For the proposed Nash seeking algorithm, the transient performance is studied and an upper bound on the average time required to settle inside a specified ball around the Nash equilibrium is derived under uniform quantization. Furthermore, an upper bound on the probability that the agents’ actions lie outside this ball is established. This bound decays double exponentially with time.
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ItemLower Bounds on the Best-Case Complexity of Solving a Class of Non-cooperative Games(Elsevier, 2016)This paper studies the complexity of solving the class G of all N-player non-cooperative games with continuous action spaces that admit at least one Nash equilibrium (NE). We consider a distributed Nash seeking setting where agents communicate with a set of system nodes (SNs), over noisy communication channels, to obtain the required information for updating their actions. The complexity of solving games in the class G is defined as the minimum number of iterations required to find a NE of any game in G with ε accuracy. Using information-theoretic inequalities, we derive a lower bound on the complexity of solving the game class G that depends on the Kolmogorov 2ε-capacity of the constraint set and the total capacity of the communication channels. We also derive a lower bound on the complexity of solving games in G which depends on the volume and surface area of the constraint set.