Model of Optimal Placement of Cloudlets in a Wireless Metropolitan Area Network

Abstract

Cloud computing has recently emerged as a new paradigm for processing and storing large amounts of data. The rapid increase in the number of mobile phones and IoT devices benefitingfrom cloud computing services reduces the Internet bandwidth, resulting in delays in delivering data processed on remote cloud servers to the user. Mobile devices use edge computing systems (cloudlet, fog computing, etc.) to overcome resource shortages, power consumption and delays in communication channels. Edge computing systems place processing devices (cloudlets) close to users. The closer the cloudlets to mobile devices, the lower the processing time and energy consumption of the mobile device, and the higher the bandwidth of communication channels. Thus, cloudlet-based mobile computing clouds are widely used to reduce the latency in the Internet communication channels and energy consumption on mobile devices. This article identifies the most popular places for cloud servers in metropolitan mobile networks and discusses the optimal placement of a limited number of cloudlets in those places.