Free Energy Approximations for CSMA Networks

In this paper we study how to estimate the back-off rates in an idealized CSMA network consisting of n links to achieve a given throughput vector using free energy approximations. More specifically, we introduce the class of region-based free energy approximations with clique belief and present a closed form expression for the back-off rates based on the zero gradient points of the free energy approximation (in terms of the conflict graph, target throughput vector and counting numbers). Next we introduce the size k
_max
clique free energy approximation as a special case and derive an explicit expression for the counting numbers, as well as a recursion to compute the back-off rates. We subsequently show that the size k
_max
clique approximation coincides with a Kikuchi free energy approximation and prove that it is exact on chordal conflict graphs when k
_max
= n. As a by-product these results provide us with an explicit expression of a fixed point of the inverse generalized belief propagation algorithm for CSMA networks. Using numerical experiments we compare the accuracy of the novel approximation method with existing methods.