A comparative study between the theory of cooperative games and a heuristic applied to a real problem of assigning costs

In this paper we study solution techniques for the cost allocation problem in access networks with a large number of users, as it happens in communication, electrical energy distribution and sewer networks. The problem is how to allocate the involved cost among the network users. To answer this question, we do characterization of the state of art for the cooperative game theory. We find a real application and using this theory, we have defined the problem, its mathematical modeling, and select some solutions concepts. Moreover, we have considered a heuristic that has been applied and compared with the game theory solutions.