Utility maximization for resolving throughput/reliability trade-offs in an unreliable network with multipath routing

This paper proposes a framework for balancing competing user (i.e., application) level requirements by resolving the corresponding trade-offs in a distributed system with limited resources. Assuming that each user's preferences are characterized by user-level utility function, the goal of balancing competing requirements for each user as well as across different users is to maximize the aggregate utility. The paper discusses this framework on an example of balancing user requirements for throughput and reliability in an unreliable network, where reliability is achieved through redundancy, e.g., using multipath routing.