Network Utility Maximization-Based Congestion Control Over Wireless Networks: A Survey and Potential Directives

Since the initial publication of Kelly et al.’s seminal paper on resource allocation in wired networks, a large number of studies based on the network utility maximization (NUM) framework have been conducted, for example, on resource allocations in wired networks as well as wireless networks. Congestion control, used to adapt the traffic rates injected into a network, can be controlled separately at the transport layer or mutually with other layers, using a cross-layer design. The focus of this paper is a review of the research following the NUM framework and addressing the problem of congestion control from several dimensions, specifically, elastic traffic or inelastic traffic, same-timescale or multi-timescale, and single-path or multipath transmissions. First, cross-layer designs for wireless networks, basics of optimization theory, and an example of cross-layer congestion control are summarized. Then, studies on NUM-based congestion control are sequentially presented from several points of view. In addition, we survey the recent literature on cross-layer resource allocation in next generation networks, software-defined networking, and cloud radio access networks, which can enhance the performances and address issues found in current networks. Finally, we outline what we consider to be the current challenges and open issues in the area of NUM-based congestion control for wireless networks.