Dual-Side Optimization for Cost-Delay Tradeoff in Mobile Edge Computing

Abstract

Mobile code offloading (MCO) is a technology that offloads computing tasks from mobile devices to remote servers managed by code offload service providers (CSPs). Nowadays, it is recommended that the remote servers be placed on the edge of the network to support modern applications, e.g., augmented reality, which demand stringent and ultralow latency or high bandwidth. To date, previous studies have independently addressed code offloading policy in mobile devices and pricing/server provisioning policies in the CSP; moreover, the system models for both user side and CSP side have not adequately reflected their practical aspects. This paper designs a practical model for the both sides and takes account of them in an integrated MCO framework simultaneously. By leveraging Lyapunov drift-plus-penalty technique, we propose code offloading, local CPU clock frequency, and network interface selection policies for mobile users, and propose MCO service pricing and server provisioning policies for the CSP in each of a competition scenario and a cooperation scenario. In the competition scenario, we propose a Com-UC algorithm for mobile users and a Com-PC algorithm for the CSP with the aim to minimize each cost for each queue stability constraint. In the cooperation scenario, we propose a Coo-JC algorithm with the aim to minimize their sum cost for both mobile users and CSP. Via trace-driven simulations, we demonstrate that Com-UC saves at most 71% of its cost and Com-PC attains 82% profit gain for the same delay compared to existing algorithms; moreover, the cooperation between mobile users and CSP additionally reduces costs and delays.