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arXiv · 1703.10500

Free Energy Approximations for CSMA networks

Benny Van Houdt
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Abstract

In this paper we study how to estimate the back-off rates in an idealized CSMA network consisting of $n$ links to achieve a given throughput vector using free energy approximations. More specifically, we introduce the class of region-based free energy approximations with clique belief and present a closed form expression for the back-off rates based on the zero gradient points of the free energy approximation (in terms of the conflict graph, target throughput vector and counting numbers). Next we introduce the size $k_{max}$ clique free energy approximation as a special case and derive an explicit expression for the counting numbers, as well as a recursion to compute the back-off rates. We subsequently show that the size $k_{max}$ clique approximation coincides with a Kikuchi free energy approximation and prove that it is exact on chordal conflict graphs when $k_{max} = n$. As a by-product these results provide us with an explicit expression of a fixed point of the inverse generalized belief propagation algorithm for CSMA networks. Using numerical experiments we compare the accuracy of the novel approximation method with existing methods.

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Benny Van Houdt. 2017-04-10. Free Energy Approximations for CSMA networks. https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.10500

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