  An important aspect of the Future Internet is the efficient utilization of
(wireless) network resources. In order for the - demanding in terms of QoS -
Future Internet services to be provided, the current trend is evolving towards
an "integrated" wireless network access model that enables users to enjoy
mobility, seamless access and high quality of service in an all-IP network on
an "Anytime, Anywhere" basis. The term "integrated" is used to denote that the
Future Internet wireless "last mile" is expected to comprise multiple
heterogeneous geographically coexisting wireless networks, each having
different capacity and coverage radius. The efficient management of the
wireless access network resources is crucial due to their scarcity that renders
wireless access a potential bottleneck for the provision of high quality
services. In this paper we propose an auction mechanism for allocating the
bandwidth of such a network so that efficiency is attained, i.e. social welfare
is maximized. In particular, we propose an incentive-compatible, efficient
auction-based mechanism of low computational complexity. We define a repeated
game to address user utilities and incentives issues. Subsequently, we extend
this mechanism so that it can also accommodate multicast sessions. We also
analyze the computational complexity and message overhead of the proposed
mechanism. We then show how user bids can be replaced from weights generated by
the network and transform the auction to a cooperative mechanism capable of
prioritizing certain classes of services and emulating DiffServ and time-of-day
pricing schemes. The theoretical analysis is complemented by simulations that
assess the proposed mechanisms properties and performance. We finally provide
some concluding remarks and directions for future research.
