关键词： Mobile edge computing  

摘要： Cloud and mobile edge computing (MEC) provides a wide range of computing services for mobile applications. In particular, mobile edge computing enables a computing and storage infrastructure provisioned closely to the end-users at the edge of a cellular network. The small base stations are deployed to establish a mobile edge network that can be coined with cloud infrastructure. A large number of enterprises and individuals rely on services offered by mobile edge and clouds to meet their computational and storage demands. Based on user behavior and demand, the computational tasks are first offloaded from mobile users to the mobile edge network and then executed at one or several specific base stations in the mobile edge network. The MEC architecture has the capability to handle a large number of devices that in turn generate high volumes of traffic. In this work, we first provide a holistic overview of MCC/MEC technology that includes the background and evolution of remote computation technologies. Then, the main part of this paper surveys up-to-date research on the concepts of offloading mechanisms, offloading granularities, and computational offloading techniques. Furthermore, we discuss the offloading mechanism in the static and dynamic environment along with optimization techniques. We further discuss the challenges and potential future directions for MEC research. © 2022 Mohammed Maray and Junaid Shuja.

关键词： Optimization   Approximation algorithms   Search problems   Multi-access edge computing   Linear programming   Internet of Things   Clustering algorithms   Differential evolution   mobile edge computing   successive convex approximation   unmanned aerial vehicles  

摘要： UAV-enabled mobile edge computing (MEC) is an emerging technology to support resource-intensive yet delay-sensitive applications with edge clouds (ECs) deployed in the proximity to mobile users and UAVs served as computing base stations in the air. The formulated optimization problems therein are highly nonconvex and thus difficult to solve. To tackle the nonconvexity, the successive convex approximation (SCA) technique has been widely used to solve for the nonconvex optimization problems by transforming the nonconvex objective functions and constraints into suitable convex surrogates. However, the optimal solutions are based on the approximated optimization problem not the original one and they are highly dependent on the feasible solution initialization. Unlike SCA, Differential Evolution (DE) is a global optimization method that iteratively updates the best candidate solutions with respect to the predefined objective functions. DE works well especially in unconstrained optimization problems since it can freely search very large regions of possible solutions without considering the convexity of the original problem. However, when it comes to the constrained optimization problem, DE becomes inefficient to find the feasible and optimal solutions within given time limits. In view of the shortcomings incurred in both DE and SCA, we propose an innovative algorithm by jointly applying DE and SCA (DE-SCA) to solve for the nonconvex optimization problems. However, directly using full DE solutions to initialize the SCA-based algorithm will result in worse objective function values as the DE solutions are often infeasible. Therefore, we further design to screen the feasible parts from the DE solutions and utilize them to initialize the SCA-based algorithm. In experimental simulations, we consider a system of UAV-enabled MEC where IoT devices, the UAV and ECs interact with each other. The simulation results demonstrate that our proposed Screened DE-SCA algorithm largely outp

关键词： mobile edge computing   MEC   computation offloading   MOEA/D   invasive weed optimisation   IWO   offloading decision  

摘要： Mobile edge computing (MEC) is able to provide cloud computing capabilities at network edges by offloading computation tasks to MEC servers deployed in proximity of edge nodes. Therefore, how to make offloading decision for mobile users has become a critical issue. In this paper, we propose a multi-objective computation offloading algorithm combining multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition (MOEA/D) with invasive weed optimisation (IWO) and differential evolution (DE). Considering that IWO is a numerical stochastic optimisation method imitating weeds, behaviour in nature and enjoys great robustness, we further improve its searching abilities. In order to reduce computing time, single-object problems can be clustered into several groups in which only one problem can be optimised by IWO and others are optimised by DE. Experimental results show the competitive performance of our proposed algorithm for computation offloading in MEC environments.

关键词： 5G mobile communication   Resource management   Quality of service   Wireless networks   NOMA   MIMO communication   Deep learning   5G   B5G   deep learning   machine learning   mobile edge computing   radio resource management  

摘要： In this survey, a comprehensive study is provided, regarding the use of machine learning (ML) algorithms for effective resource management in fifth-generation and beyond (5G/B5G) wireless cellular networks. The ever-increasing user requirements, their diverse nature in terms of performance metrics and the use of various novel technologies, such as millimeter wave transmission, massive multiple-input-multiple-output configurations and non-orthogonal multiple access, render the multi-constraint nature of the radio resource management (RRM) problem. In this context, ML and mobile edge computing (MEC) constitute a promising framework to provide improved quality of service (QoS) for end users, since they can relax the RMM-associated computational burden. In our work, a state-of-the-art analysis of ML-based RRM algorithms, categorized in terms of learning type and potential applications as well as MEC implementations,is presented, to define the best-performing solutions for various RRM sub-problems. To demonstrate the capabilities and efficiency of ML-based algorithms in RRM, we apply and compare different ML approaches for throughput prediction, as an indicative RRM task. We investigate the problem, either as a classification or as a regression one, using the corresponding metrics in each occasion. Finally, open issues, challenges and limitations concerning AI/ML approaches in RRM for 5G and B5G networks, are discussed in detail.

关键词： Live streaming   machine learning   mobile edge computing   VoD   video Streaming  

摘要： 5G communication brings substantial improvements in the quality of service provided to various applications by achieving higher throughput and lower latency. However, interactive multimedia applications (e.g., ultra high definition video conferencing, 3D and multiview video streaming, crowd-sourced video streaming, cloud gaming, virtual and augmented reality) are becoming more ambitious with high volume and low latency video streams putting strict demands on the already congested networks. Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) is an emerging paradigm that extends cloud computing capabilities to the edge of the network i.e., at the base station level. To meet the latency requirements and avoid the end-to-end communication with remote cloud data centers, MEC allows to store and process video content (e.g., caching, transcoding, pre-processing) at the base stations. Both video on demand and live video streaming can utilize MEC to improve existing services and develop novel use cases, such as video analytics, and targeted advertisements. MEC is expected to reshape the future of video streaming by providing ultra-reliable and low latency streaming (e.g., in augmented reality, virtual reality, and autonomous vehicles), pervasive computing (e.g., in real-time video analytics), and blockchain-enabled architecture for secure live streaming. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of recent developments in MEC-enabled video streaming bringing unprecedented improvement to enable novel use cases. A detailed review of the state-of-the-art is presented covering novel caching schemes, optimal computation offloading, cooperative caching and offloading and the use of artificial intelligence (i.e., machine learning, deep learning, and reinforcement learning) in MEC-assisted video streaming services.

关键词： Task analysis   Quality of experience   Stochastic processes   Energy consumption   Wireless communication   Power control   Optimization   Computation offloading   mobile edge computing   resource allocation  

摘要： As a new computing paradigm, mobile edge computing (MEC) enables users to execute computation-intensive tasks at the network edge nodes (ENs) through computation offloading. Energy consumption of computation offloading is envisioned as a significant metric to satisfy the high quality of experience (QoE). In multi-ENs MEC networks, computation scheduling and power control of each user is tightly coupled with task offloading. Moreover, due to the stochastic task arrivals and unknown wireless channel conditions, it is challenging to allocate resources for efficient offloading without prior information of tasks and channels. In this paper, we propose an individualized utility metric of each user. We formulate the problem of computation scheduling and power control of each user as a stochastic optimization problem. We aim to maximize the long-term averaged utility quality of all users by jointly optimizing the computation scheduling, task-partition factor and power control. We use Lyapunov optimization technique to convert the long-term stochastic problem into a series of deterministic sub-problems in each time slot. We propose an online algorithm for utility quality maximization (OAUQM). The asymptotic optimality and queue stability of our algorithm are analyzed. Experimental simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm against the benchmark offloading algorithms in terms of utility quality and energy consumption.

关键词： Servers   Costs   Resource management   Optimization   Heuristic algorithms   Quality of service   Dynamic scheduling   Cost efficiency   configuration scheme   edge server   mobile edge computing   placement scheme  

摘要： Computing resource configuration and site selection of edge servers (ESs) are two critical steps to build up a mobile edge computing (MEC) platform. In this paper, the joint optimization problem of configuration and placement for ES in the MEC environment is investigated. First, we treat each ES as an M/G/m queueing model, and establish mathematical models to characterize the MEC environment, such that the performance and operational expenditures (OPEX) of the system can be calculated analytically. Then, we design a two-stage method and develop a series of algorithms based on bisection algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA) to obtain the optimal configuration scheme and sub-optimal placement scheme (including the deployment quantity) of ESs, with the goal of minimizing OPEX while maintaining system performance at a predetermined level. Finally, we conduct experiments based on a real base station dataset provided by Shanghai Telecom to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first research of the joint optimization problem of configuration and placement for ES in the MEC environment, where the main objective is to increase the cost efficiency.

关键词： Task analysis   Heuristic algorithms   Wireless communication   Resource management   Computational modeling   Servers   Fading channels   Mobile edge computing   federated learning   deep reinforcement learning   online computing offload   wireless powered communication  

摘要： Mobile edge computing (MEC) is considered a more effective technological solution for developing the Internet of Things (IoT) by providing cloud-like capabilities for mobile users. This article combines wireless powered communication (WPC) technology with an MEC network, where a base station (BS) can transfer wireless energy to edge users (EUs) and execute computation-intensive tasks through task offloading. Traditional numerical optimization methods are time-consuming approaches for solving this problem in time-varying wireless channels, and centralized deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is not stable in large-scale dynamic IoT networks. Therefore, we propose a federated DRL-based online task offloading and resource allocation (FDOR) algorithm. In this algorithm, DRL is executed in EUs, and federated learning (FL) uses the distributed architecture of MEC to aggregate and update the parameters. To further solve the problem of the non-IID data of mobile EUs, we devise an adaptive method that automatically adjusts the FDOR algorithm's learning rate. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed FDOR algorithm is superior to the traditional numerical optimization method and the existing DRL algorithm in four aspects: convergence speed, execution delay, overall calculation rate and stability in large-scale and dynamic IoT.

关键词： Data models   Convergence   Training   Servers   Computational modeling   Probabilistic logic   Predictive models   Federated learning   mobile edge computing   fast convergence   node selection  

摘要： Federated Learning (FL) is a distributed learning paradigm that enables a large number of resource-limited nodes to collaboratively train a model without data sharing. The non-independent-and-identically-distributed (non-i.i.d.) data samples invoke discrepancies between the global and local objectives, making the FL model slow to converge. In this paper, we proposed Optimal Aggregation algorithm for better aggregation, which finds out the optimal subset of local updates of participating nodes in each global round, by identifying and excluding the adverse local updates via checking the relationship between the local gradient and the global gradient. Then, we proposed a Probabilistic Node Selection framework (FedPNS) to dynamically change the probability for each node to be selected based on the output of Optimal Aggregation. FedPNS can preferentially select nodes that propel faster model convergence. The convergence rate improvement of FedPNS over the commonly adopted Federated Averaging (FedAvg) algorithm is analyzed theoretically. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of FedPNS in accelerating the FL convergence rate, as compared to FedAvg with random node selection.

关键词： Internet of Things (IoT)   wireless sensor network   optimization algorithm   mobile edge computing  

摘要： The number of sensor nodes in the sensor network is massive, and the network running time is relatively long, with a large number of data sampled, forming the big data of the sensor network. As the energy and communication capacities of the sensor nodes are highly limited, the design of an effective optimization algorithm for the wireless transmission of distributed cable tunnel data and the application of the mobile edge computing method to accomplish the task of big data transmission efficiently has become a major challenge faced by the wireless sensor network design. In this paper, the mobile edge computing method is used to estimate the packet reception ratio (PRR) of the wireless link, and the average number of data transmission times in the wireless link is calculated based on the reception rate. On this basis, a mobile edge computing method is proposed, which can determine the optimal path from all sensor nodes to sink nodes, so as to ensure the minimum sum of the average link transmission times in the optimal path. According to the distributed environment of the sensor network, the mobile edge computing method is improved. The distributed implementation protocol of the mobile edge computing method is proposed to identify the optimal path with the smallest average number of transmission times. The smallest number of transmission times means the minimum energy consumption. This study is of important practical significance for the wireless sensor network with limited energy. Finally, the experiment has verified that the optimization model for the wireless transmission of the distributed cable tunnel data in this paper has relatively high performance and feasibility.