An Auction Mechanism for Power Allocation in Multi-Source Multi-Relay Cooperative Wireless Networks

In this paper, power allocation for multi-source multi-relay cooperative wireless networks is considered. An ascending-clock auction algorithm is proposed to efficiently allocate cooperative relay power among multiple source nodes in a distributed fashion. In particular, each source node reports its optimal power demand to each relay node based on the relays' announced prices. It is proven that the proposed auction algorithm enforces truthful power demands and converges in a finite number of time-steps to the unique Walrasian Equilibrium allocation that maximizes the sum of utilities. Numerical results are presented to supplement the theoretical analysis and demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed distributed relay power allocation algorithm.