text: Virtually all of the rapidly increasing data traffic consumed by mobile users requires some kind of processing, normally performed at cloud servers. A recent thrust, mobile edge computing , moves such processing to servers within the cellular mobile network. The large temporal and spatial variations to which mobile data usage is subject could make the reduced latency that edge clouds offer come at an unacceptable cost in redundant and underutilized infrastructure. We present some first empirical results on this question, based on large scale sampled crowd-sourced traces from several major cities spanning multiple operators and identifying the applications in use. We find opportunities to obtain both high server utilization and low application latency, but the best approaches will depend on the individual network operator's deployment strategy and geographic specifics of the cities we study.
  @cite_14: As mobile networks are witnessing huge growth in the volumes of data traffic from smartphone and tablet. Mobile operators start to look into CDN and caching in order to offload increasingly overloaded mobile networks, reduce network and peering cost, and improve mobile user's quality of experience. For CDN and cache deployment in mobile network, one practical issue is where to deploy CDN or cache function. As mobile network is designed as a tiered and hierarchical structure, the cache or CDN function could be placed at multiple potential points, e.g., GGSN, RNC and etc. In this paper, we propose an economic model that can be used to analyze the cost saving and benefit when cache function is place at different places of mobile network. A real mobile network is studied according to this model. We can see that the best place to store the cached content really depends on the network infrastructure and cost composition of the mobile operator. In addition, other issues, like technical complexity and performance, shall be considered together.
  @cite_7: 
  @cite_10: Content caching on the edge of 5G networks is an emerging and critical feature to support the thirst for content of future connected cars. Yet, the compactization of 5G cells, the finite edge storage capacity and the need for content availability while driving motivate the need to develop smart edge caching strategies adapted to the mobility characteristics of connected cars. In this paper, we propose a Mobility-Aware Probabilistic (MAP) scheme, which optimally caches content at edge nodes where connected vehicles mostly require it. Unlike blind popularity decisions, the probabilistic caching used by MAP considers vehicular trajectory predictions as well as content service time by edge nodes. We evaluate our approach on realistic mobility datasets and against popularity-based edge approaches. Our MAP edge caching scheme provides up to 40 enhanced content availability, 70 increased cache throughput, and 40 reduced backhaul overhead compared to popularity-based strategies.
  @cite_6: Distributed caching architectures have been proposed for bringing content close to requesters and the key problem is to design caching algorithms for reducing content delivery delay. The problem obtains an interesting new twist with the advent of advanced layered-video encoding techniques such as Scalable Video Coding (SVC). We show that the problem of finding the caching configuration of video encoding layers that minimizes average delay for a network operator is NP-Hard, and we establish a pseudopolynomial-time optimal solution using a connection with the multiple-choice knapsack problem. We also design caching algorithms for multiple operators that cooperate by pooling together their co-located caches, in an effort to aid each other, so as to avoid large delays due to downloading content from distant servers. We derive an approximate solution to this cooperative caching problem using a technique that partitions the cache capacity into amounts dedicated to own and others' caching needs. Numerical results based on real traces of SVC-encoded videos demonstrate up to 25 reduction in delay over existing (layer-agnostic) caching schemes, with increasing gains as the video popularity distribution gets steeper, and cache capacity increases.
  @cite_0: We consider a MIMO multicell system wherein several Mobile Users (MUs) ask for computation offloading to a common cloud server through their femto-access points. We formulate the computation offloading problem as a joint optimization of the radio resources??the transmit precoding matrices of the MUs??and the computational resources??the CPU cycles second assigned by the cloud to each MU??in order to minimize the overall users' energy consumption while meeting the latency constraints imposed by the applications running on the MUs. The resulting optimization problem is nonconvex (in the objective function and the constraints), and there are constraints coupling all the optimization variables. To cope with the nonconvexity, we hinge on successive convex approximation techniques and propose an iterative algorithm converging to a local optimal solution of the original nonconvex problem. The algorithm is also suitable for a parallel implementation across the access point, with limited coordination signaling with the cloud. Numerical results show that the proposed joint optimization yields significant energy savings with respect to more traditional schemes performing a separate optimization of the radio and computational resources.
  @cite_5: Creating context-aware ad hoc collaborative systems remains to be one of the primary hurdles hampering the ubiquitous deployment of IT and communication services. Especially under mission-critical scenarios, these services must often adhere to strict timing deadlines. We believe empowering such realtime collaboration systems requires context-aware application platforms working in conjunction with ultra-low latency data transmissions. In this paper, we make a strong case that this could be accomplished by combining the novel communication architectures being proposed for 5G with the principles of Mobile Edge Computing (MEC). We show that combining 5G with MEC would enable inter- and intra-domain use cases that are otherwise not feasible.
  @cite_16: Fog Computing extends the Cloud Computing paradigm to the edge of the network, thus enabling a new breed of applications and services. Defining characteristics of the Fog are: a) Low latency and location awareness; b) Wide-spread geographical distribution; c) Mobility; d) Very large number of nodes, e) Predominant role of wireless access, f) Strong presence of streaming and real time applications, g) Heterogeneity. In this paper we argue that the above characteristics make the Fog the appropriate platform for a number of critical Internet of Things (IoT) services and applications, namely, Connected Vehicle, Smart Grid, Smart Cities, and, in general, Wireless Sensors and Actuators Networks (WSANs).
  @cite_13: This article explores one of the key enablers of beyond 4G wireless networks leveraging small cell network deployments, proactive caching. Endowed with predictive capabilities and harnessing recent developments in storage, context awareness, and social networks, peak traffic demands can be substantially reduced by proactively serving predictable user demands via caching at base stations and users' devices. In order to show the effectiveness of proactive caching, we examine two case studies that exploit the spatial and social structure of the network, where proactive caching plays a crucial role. First, in order to alleviate backhaul congestion, we propose a mechanism whereby files are proactively cached during off-peak periods based on file popularity and correlations among user and file patterns. Second, leveraging social networks and D2D communications, we propose a procedure that exploits the social structure of the network by predicting the set of influential users to (proactively) cache strategic contents and disseminate them to their social ties via D2D communications. Exploiting this proactive caching paradigm, numerical results show that important gains can be obtained for each case study, with backhaul savings and a higher ratio of satisfied users of up to 22 and 26 percent, respectively. Higher gains can be further obtained by increasing the storage capability at the network edge.
  @cite_12: 
  @cite_11: 
summary: Mobile-edge computing has been recently introduced @cite_11 as a way to move the cloud'', i.e., the servers processing mobile traffic, closer to users, thus reducing the latency and load of networks. Network Function Virtualization is widely regarded to as an enabling technology for MEC (see, e.g., @cite_12 ). Recent works have studied the radio techniques needed to enable MEC @cite_0 , its relationship to the Internet-of-things @cite_16 and context-aware, next-generation networks @cite_5 . Closer to our scenario, the authors of @cite_7 study how caches and servers should be placed in the network as its load changes over time. With regard to MEC and caching, a prominent application is mobile video streaming. As an example, @cite_6 @cite_14 account for layered video coding techniques, and address the problem of placing the right layers at the right cache -- with @cite_6 also accounting for cooperation between operators. Other works @cite_13 @cite_10 aim at foreseeing the content demand, in order to proactively populate caches or serve users.