Abstract: Revenue maximization is critical for network service providers. One way to improve revenue is to charge network users differentially based on their application types and service preferences. Such a complete price differentiation scheme, however, requires complete network information, is often highly complex, and may lead to potential fairness issues. In this talk, we will look at how to achieve the same maximum revenue as in complete price differentiation but with only incomplete network information. Then we study how to optimize a partial price differentiation scheme with a small number of price choices. Finally, we study the tradeoff between revenue and pricing complexity, and identify the operational sweet spots for the network service providers. This is a joint work with Shuqin Li and Shuo-yen Li at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. For more information, see http://ncel.ie.cuhk.edu.hk/ .

Bio:
Jianwei Huang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He received B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Southeast University (China) in 2000, M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Northwestern University (USA) in 2003 and 2005, respectively. He worked as a Postdoc Research Associate in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University during 2005-2007. Dr. Huang currently leads the Network Communications and Economics Lab (ncel.ie.cuhk.edu.hk), with main research focus on nonlinear optimization and game theoretical analysis of communication networks, especially on network economics, cognitive radio networks, and smart grid. He is the recipient of the IEEE Marconi Prize Paper Award in Wireless Communications in 2011, the IEEE GLOBECOM Best Paper Award in 2010, the IEEE ComSoc Asia-Pacific Outstanding Young Researcher Award in 2009, Asia-Pacific Conference on Communications Best Paper Award in 2009, and Walter P. Murphy Fellowship at Northwestern University in 2001.

Dr. Huang has served as Editor of IEEE Trans. on Wireless Communications (2010-), Guest Editor of an incoming IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications special issue on "Economics of Networks and Wireless Systems", Lead Guest Editor of IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications special issue on "Game Theory in Communication Systems". Dr. Huang has served as Vice Chair of IEEE MMTC (Communications Society Multimedia Communications Technical Committee) (2010-), the TPC Co-Chair of IEEE WiOpt (International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks) 2012, and TPC member of many conferences such as INFOCOM, MobiHoc, ICC, GLBOECOM, and WCNC.