Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

A game-theoretic approach to computation offloading in mobile cloud computing

  • Full Length Paper
  • Series B
  • Published:
Mathematical Programming Submit manuscript

Abstract

We consider a three-tier architecture for mobile and pervasive computing scenarios, consisting of a local tier of mobile nodes, a middle tier (cloudlets) of nearby computing nodes, typically located at the mobile nodes access points but characterized by a limited amount of resources, and a remote tier of distant cloud servers, which have practically infinite resources. This architecture has been proposed to get the benefits of computation offloading from mobile nodes to external servers while limiting the use of distant servers whose higher latency could negatively impact the user experience. For this architecture, we consider a usage scenario where no central authority exists and multiple non-cooperative mobile users share the limited computing resources of a close-by cloudlet and can selfishly decide to send their computations to any of the three tiers. We define a model to capture the users interaction and to investigate the effects of computation offloading on the users’ perceived performance. We formulate the problem as a generalized Nash equilibrium problem and show existence of an equilibrium. We present a distributed algorithm for the computation of an equilibrium which is tailored to the problem structure and is based on an in-depth analysis of the underlying equilibrium problem. Through numerical examples, we illustrate its behavior and the characteristics of the achieved equilibria.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. http://nsn.com/portfolio/liquid-net/intelligent-broadband-management/liquid-applications.

  2. The VI \((K,F)\), where \(K\subseteq \mathbb {R}^n\) is a closed convex set and \(F:K \rightarrow \mathbb {R}^n\) is a continuous function, is the problem of finding a point \(\bar{x}\in K\), such that \(F(\bar{x})^T(x-\bar{x}) \ge 0\), for all \(x\in K\).

  3. We recall that \(F\) is monotone on \(K\) if \( (F(y) - F(x))^T (y -x) \, \ge \, 0, \, \forall y,x \in K. \)

  4. We recall that \(F_e\) is strongly monotone on \(K_e\) if \( (F_e(y) - F_e(x))^T (y -x) \, \ge \, m \Vert y-x\Vert ^2, \, \forall y,x \in K_e \) for some fixed, positive \(m\). Note that every strongly monotone function is monotone but the vice versa does not necessarily hold. If \(F_e\) is continuously differentiable it is known that \(F_e\) is strongly monotone on \(K_e\) if and only if \(JF_e(x, \rho ) - mI\) is positive semidefinite for all points in \(K_e\).

References

  1. Abebe, E., Ryan, C.: Adaptive application offloading using distributed abstract class graphs in mobile environments. J. Syst. Softw. 85(12), 2755–2769 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Abolfazli, S., Sanaei, Z., Ahmed, E., Gani, A., Buyya, R.: Cloud-based augmentation for mobile devices: motivation, taxonomies, and open challenges. IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor. 16(1), 337–368 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Altman, E., Ayesta, U., Prabhu, B.: Load balancing in processor sharing systems. In: Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Performance Evaluation Methodologies and Tools, ValueTools ’08 (2008)

  4. Bahl, P., Han, R.Y., Li, L.E., Satyanarayanan, M.: Advancing the state of mobile cloud computing. In: Proceedings of 3rd ACM Workshop on Mobile Cloud Computing and Services, MCS ’12, pp. 21–28 (2012)

  5. Barbarossa, S., Sardellitti, S., Di Lorenzo, P.: Joint allocation of computation and communication resources in multiuser mobile cloud computing. In: Proceedings of IEEE 14th Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications, SPAWC ’13, pp. 26–30 (2013)

  6. Bernstein, D.S.: Matrix Mathematics: Theory, Facts, and Formulas with Application to Linear Systems Theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton (2005)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  7. Bertsekas, D.P., Tsitsiklis, J.N.: Parallel and Distributed Computation: Numerical Methods. Prentice-Hall Inc, Upper Saddle River (1989)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Bohez, S., Verbelen, T., Simoens, P., Dhoedt, B.: Discrete-event simulation for efficient and stable resource allocation in collaborative mobile cloudlets. In: Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory (to appear) (2014)

  9. Bonomi, F., Milito, R., Zhu, J., Addepalli, S.: Fog computing and its role in the Internet of Things. In: Proceedings of 1st Workshop on Mobile Cloud Computing, MCC ’12, pp. 13–16. ACM (2012)

  10. Chen, X.: Decentralized computation offloading game for mobile cloud computing. IEEE Trans. Parallel Distrib. Syst. (2014) (to appear)

  11. Chun, B.-G., Ihm, S., Maniatis, P., Naik, M., Patti, A.: Clonecloud: elastic execution between mobile device and cloud. In: Proceedings of Euro Systems 2011, pp. 301–314 (2011)

  12. Clinch, S., Harkes, J., Friday, A., Davies, N., Satyanarayanan, M.: How close is close enough? Understanding the role of cloudlets in supporting display appropriation by mobile users. In: Proceedings of 2012 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications, PerCom ’12, pp. 122–127 (2012)

  13. Cottle, R.W., Pang, J.-S., Stone, R.E.: The linear complementarity problem, vol. 60. Siam (2009)

  14. Cuervo, E., Balasubramanian, A., Cho, D.-K., Wolman, A., Saroiu, S., Chandra, R., Bahl, P.: MAUI: making smartphones last longer with code offload. In: Proceedings of 8th International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services, MobiSys ’10, pp. 49–62. ACM (2010)

  15. Facchinei, F., Fischer, A., Piccialli, V.: On generalized Nash games and variational inequalities. Oper. Res. Lett. 35(2), 159–164 (2007)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  16. Facchinei, F., Kanzow, C.: Generalized Nash equilibrium problems. Ann. Oper. Res. 175(1), 177–211 (2010)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. Facchinei, F., Pang, J.-S.: Finite-Dimensional Variational Inequalities and Complementarity Problems, vol. 1, 2. Springer, Berlin (2003)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  18. Facchinei, F., Pang, J.-S.: Nash equilibria: the variational approach. In: Palomar, D.P., Eldar, Y.C. (eds.) Convex Optimization in Signal Processing and Communications, pp. 443–493. Cambridge Books, Cambridge (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  19. Facchinei, F., Pang, J.-S., Scutari, G., Lampariello, L.: VI-constrained hemivariational inequalities: distributed algorithms and power control in ad-hoc networks. Math. Program. 145(1–2), 59–96 (2014)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  20. Fernando, N., Loke, S.W., Rahayu, W.: Mobile cloud computing: a survey. Future Gener. Comput. Syst. 29(1), 84–106 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Fesehaye, D., Gao, Y., Nahrstedt, K., Wang, G.: Impact of cloudlets on interactive mobile cloud applications. In: Proceedings of IEEE 16th International Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference, EDOC ’12, pp. 123–132 (2012)

  22. Giurgiu, I., Riva, O., Alonso, G.: Dynamic software deployment from clouds to mobile devices. In: Proceedings of Middleware 2012, pp. 394–414. Springer, Berlin (2012)

  23. Ha, K., Pillai, P., Lewis, G.A., Simanta, S., Clinch, S., Davies, N., Satyanarayanan, M.: The impact of mobile multimedia applications on data center consolidation. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Cloud Engineering, IC2E ’13, pp. 166–176 (2013)

  24. Horn, R.A., Johnson, C.R.: Matrix Analysis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1990)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  25. Huerta-Canepa, G., Lee, D.: A virtual cloud computing provider for mobile devices. In: Proceedings of 1st ACM Workshop on Mobile Cloud Computing and Services, MCS ’10 (2010)

  26. Imai, S., Varela, C.A.: Light-weight adaptive task offloading from smartphones to nearby computational resources. In: Proceedings of 2011 ACM Symposium on Research in Applied Computation (2011)

  27. Jia, M., Cao, J., Yang, L.: Heuristic offloading of concurrent tasks for computation-intensive applications in mobile cloud computing. In: Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM Workshops, pp. 352–357 (2014)

  28. Kleinrock, L.: Queueing Systems, Volume 1: Theory. Wiley-Interscience, New York (1975)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  29. Kosta, S., Aucinas, A., Hui, P., Mortier, R., Zhang, X.: ThinkAir: dynamic resource allocation and parallel execution in the cloud for mobile code offloading. In: Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM 2012, pp. 945–953 (2012)

  30. Kosta, S., Perta, V., Stefa, J., Hui, H., Mei, A.: Clone2Clone (C2C): peer-to-peer networking of smartphones on the cloud. In: Proceedings of 5th USENIX Workshop on Hot topics in Cloud Computing (2013)

  31. Kumar, K., Lu, Y.-H.: Cloud computing for mobile users: can offloading computation save energy? IEEE Comput. 43(4), 51–56 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Lin, X., Wang, Y., Pedram, M..: An optimal control policy in a mobile cloud computing system based on stochastic data. In: Proceedings of IEEE 2nd International Conference on Cloud Networking, pp. 117–122 (2013)

  33. Mell, P., Grance, T.: The NIST definition of cloud computing. In: NIST Special Publication 800–145 (2011)

  34. Ou, S., Yang, K., Zhang, J.: An effective offloading middleware for pervasive services on mobile devices. Pervasive Mob. Comput. 3(4), 362–385 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Rachuri, K.K., Efstratiou, C., Leontiadis, I., Mascolo, C., Rentfrow, P.J.: Smartphone sensing offloading for efficiently supporting social sensing applications. Pervasive Mob. Comput. 10, 3–21 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Rahimi, R., Venkatasubramanian, N., Mehrotra, S., Vasilakos, A.: MAPCloud: mobile applications on an elastic and scalable 2-tier cloud architecture. In: Proceedings of IEEE 5th International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computing, UCC ’12, pp. 83–90 (2012)

  37. Rahimi, R., Venkatasubramanian, N., Vasilakos, A.: MuSIC: on mobility-aware optimal service allocation in mobile cloud computing. In: Proceedings of IEEE 6th International Conference on Cloud Computing, Cloud ’13, pp. 75–82 (2013)

  38. Satyanarayanan, M.: Pervasive computing: vision and challenges. IEEE Pers. Commun. 8(4), 10–17 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Satyanarayanan, M., Bahl, P., Cáceres, R., Davies, N.: The case for VM-based cloudlets in mobile computing. IEEE Pervasive Comput. 8(4), 14–23 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Scutari, G., Palomar, D.P., Facchinei, F., Pang, J.-S.: Monotone games for cognitive radio systems. In: Johansson, R., Rantzer, A. (eds.) Distributed Decision Making and Control, Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences, vol. 417, pp. 83–112. Springer, London (2012)

  41. Scutari, G., Facchinei, F., Pang, J., Palomar, D.P.: Real and complex monotone communication games. IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 60(7), 4197–4231 (2014)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  42. Sharifi, M., Kafaie, S., Kashefi, O.: A survey and taxonomy of cyber foraging of mobile devices. IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor. 14(4), 1232–1243 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Shiraz, M., Gani, A., Khokhar, R., Buyya, R.: A review on distributed application processing frameworks in smart mobile devices for mobile cloud computing. IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor. 15(3), 1294–1313 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Song, J., Cui, Y., Li, M., Qiu, J., Buyya, R.: Energy-traffic tradeoff cooperative offloading for mobile cloud computing. In: Proceedings of IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Quality of Service, IWQoS ’14 (2014)

  45. Vallina-Rodriguez, N., Crowcroft, J.: ErdOS: achieving energy savings in mobile OS. In: Proceedings of 6th International Workshop on Mobility in the Evolving Internet Architecture, MobiArch ’11, pp. 37–42 (2011)

  46. Verbelen, T., Stevens, T., De Turck, F., Dhoedt, B.: Graph partitioning algorithms for optimizing software deployment in mobile cloud computing. Future Gener. Comput. Syst., 29(2), 451–459 (2013)

  47. Wang, Y., Lin, X., Pedram, M.: A nested two stage game-based optimization framework in mobile cloud computing system. In: Proceedings of IEEE 7th International Symposium on Service Oriented System Engineering, SOSE ’13, pp. 494–502 (2013)

  48. Yang, L., Cao, J., Yuan, Y., Li, T., Han, A., Chan, A.: A framework for partitioning and execution of data stream applications in mobile cloud computing. Sigmetrics Perform. Eval. Rev. 40(4), 23–32 (2013)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering and Computer Science Engineering, University of Roma “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy

    Valeria Cardellini, Vittoria De Nitto Personé, Vincenzo Grassi, Francesco Lo Presti & Veronica Piccialli

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Rome La Sapienza, Via Salaria 113, 00198, Rome, Italy

    Valerio Di Valerio

  3. Department of Computer, Control, and Management Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza, Via Ariosto 25, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Francisco Facchinei

Authors
  1. Valeria Cardellini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Vittoria De Nitto Personé
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Valerio Di Valerio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  4. Francisco Facchinei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  5. Vincenzo Grassi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  6. Francesco Lo Presti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  7. Veronica Piccialli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Veronica Piccialli.

Additional information

The work of Facchinei was supported by the MIUR project PLATINO (Grant Agreement n. PON01_01007). The work of Piccialli was partially supported by Italian MIUR project PRIN-COFIN n. 2012JXB3YF_004.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cardellini, V., De Nitto Personé, V., Di Valerio, V. et al. A game-theoretic approach to computation offloading in mobile cloud computing. Math. Program. 157, 421–449 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10107-015-0881-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10107-015-0881-6

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification