Virtualization Framework and VCG Based Resource Block Allocation Scheme for LTE Virtualization

Wireless Network Virtualization (WNV) enables high resource utilization, inter-slice isolation and customizable resource allocation, and has attracted much interest. However, most of works on WNV did not consider the business model between Infrastructure Providers (InPs) and Service Providers (SPs) nor did they focus on the isolation and customization issues. This paper proposes a WNV framework for LTE where hypervisor does not have direct access to user information, and Resource Block (RB) allocation problem in this framework is investigated by adopting the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism to model auction games between InPs and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) where MVNOs have the incentive to bid truthfully to compete for RBs. A unified utility function is utilized to enable MVNOs to determine their own scheduling strategies by setting the parameters in it. The RB allocation problem is formulated to divide the total RB set into different subsets to maximize the summation of reporting valuations of all MVNOs. Due to its complexity, a heuristic algorithm is proposed. Simulation results show that the intra-slice customization and inter-slice isolation of virtual networks are satisfied in our model.