Traffic pattern in negatively curved network

Abstract

Traffic pattern in negatively curved network

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TRAFFIC PATTERN IN NEGATIVELY CURVED NETWORK







by


Mingji Lou





A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING)



December 2008





Copyright 2008 Mingji Lou

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Epigraph
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Hamlet, William.
Shakespeare; Act II, scene ii.

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Dedication
To my parents.

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Acknowledgments
There have been many hands helping me in my work, and some people stand out in my
mind. The first idea related to this thesis came from my course project, Tracking and
Mitigating Piracy Propagation in Network, in Professor Edmond Jonckheere’s course
Networking Control. Professor Jonckheere encouraged and advised me through the whole
journey of my Ph.D. studying including this thesis, our other projects and patents. Dr.
Yuliy Baryshnikov from Bell Lab introduced me to the interesting traffic congestion
problem in networks and provided me with several bench mark cases during his visit to
USC and my summer visit to Bell Labs. Professor Francis Bonahon from the Department
of Mathematics always helped me understand and overcome the most difficult
mathematical concepts and proofs. Professor Bhaskar Krishnamachari guided me to
interconnect the theory and real-world networking applications, such as the load-balancing
problem, etc.
Many other distinguished Professors helped me during the many different periods of
my academic career; these include Professor Petros Ioannou and Professor Michael
Safonov from the control group, Professor Melvin Breuer, Professor Jerry Mendel,
Professor Gandhi Puvvada, and Professor Robert Scholtz from computer engineer and
signal processing groups, respectively, and Professor Yuming Zhang from University of
Kentucky.
The research group members, Fariba Ariaei and Srideep Musuvathy, have been a great
resource for my work.
I also want to thank Mr. James S. Turner and the Global Gateway Foundation for

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supporting another academic research project of mine, Spinal Injury Imaging by
Magnetically Levitated Sensors.
If the meaning of pursuing a Ph.D. is more than a degree, all of the lessons I learned
from this journey has permeated my whole life. I feel profoundly enriched and fortunate to
have met all of those whom I interacted with.