Towards Cost-Aware Multipath Routing

Traditional approaches to multipath routing ignore the economic incentives necessary in aligning both networks and users towards a common goal. While theory suggests congestion pricing can be used to maximize social welfare, even within such a framework we have no consistent method for evaluating, constructing and disseminating paths. Our research focuses on building on existing congestion pricing models to provide scalable and differentiated edge selectable routes. By redesigning traffic management to not only provide paths, but also price them accordingly, the resulting cost-aware multipath architecture could alleviate the tension between different stakeholders by evolving the Internet towards a fully functional market.