Abstract
Mobile crowdsourcing, as an emerging service paradigm, enables the computing resource requestor (CRR) to outsource computation tasks to each computing resource provider (CRP). Considering the importance of pricing as an essential incentive to coordinate the real-time interaction among the CRR and CRPs, in this paper, we propose an optimal real-time pricing strategy for computing resource management in mobile crowdsourcing. Firstly, we analytically model the CRR and CRPs behaviors in form of carefully selected utility and cost functions, based on concepts from microeconomics. Secondly, we propose a distributed algorithm through the exchange of control messages, which contain the information of computing resource demand/supply and real-time prices. We show that there exist real-time prices that can align individual optimality with systematic optimality. Finally, we also take account of the interaction among CRPs and formulate the computing resource management as a game with Nash equilibrium achievable via best response. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed distributed algorithm can potentially benefit both the CRR and CRPs. The coordinator in mobile crowdsourcing can thus use the optimal real-time pricing strategy to manage computing resources towards the benefit of the overall system.
Highlights
With the explosion of mobile devices, mobile computing has become an overwhelming trend in the development of mobile networks and Internet of things (IoT) [1,2,3]
We show that there exist real-time prices that can align individual optimality with systematic optimality, that is, under such prices, when the computing resource requestor (CRR) and computing resource provider (CRP) selfishly optimize their own benefits, they automatically maximize the system welfare
The dual problem can be decomposed into two separable subproblems: one is in the form of (3), which can be locally solved by the CRR, while the other is in the form of (4), which can be locally solved by the CRP
Summary
With the explosion of mobile devices, mobile computing has become an overwhelming trend in the development of mobile networks and Internet of things (IoT) [1,2,3]. We formulate the computing resource management in mobile crowdsourcing as an optimization problem to maximize the satisfaction of the CRR while minimizing the aggregate expense of all CRPs in the system. The coordinator in mobile crowdsourcing can use the optimal real-time pricing strategy to manage computing resources towards the benefit of the overall system. To the best of our knowledge, this is an early effort towards providing a systematic framework of optimal computing resource management in mobile crowdsourcing We hope that this pioneering work can throw light on coordinating the real-time interaction among the CRR and CRPs via the optimal real-time pricing strategy. (1) We model the CRR and CRPs behaviors and formulate the computing resource management in mobile crowdsourcing as an optimization problem.
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