A survey on game theory applications in wireless networks

While the Quality of Service (QoS) offered to users may be enhanced through innovative protocols and new technologies, future trends should take into account the efficiency of resource allocation and network/terminal cooperation as well. Game theory techniques have widely been applied to various engineering design problems in which the action of one component has impact on (and perhaps conflicts with) that of any other component. Therefore, game formulations are used, and a stable solution for the players is obtained through the concept of equilibrium. This survey collects applications of game theory in wireless networking and presents them in a layered perspective, emphasizing on which fields game theory could be effectively applied. To this end, several games are modeled and their key features are exposed.