CNS Core: Small: Towards Seamless Mobility in Mobile Edge Computing Networks

通过将移动计算、网络控制和存储资源推向移动无线网络的边缘，移动边缘计算(MEC)已经成为一种很有前途的技术，可以克服在资源有限的移动设备上执行延迟敏感和计算密集型应用的挑战。行动支助问题被认为是确保MEC成功的关键组成部分。虽然移动性支持问题在传统无线网络中已经得到了广泛的研究，但这些网络中提出的移动性管理方案考虑了仅限通信的场景，而MEC网络将通信与计算活动捆绑在一起。因此，与MEC网络中的移动性支持相关的许多问题仍然没有被探索。现有的面向通信的移动性解决方案由于忽略了移动性解决方案中与计算相关的度量，将导致性能严重下降。此外，MEC中新的上行和下行流量分布为无缝移动支持带来了独特的挑战。这项研究将有助于为许多应用产生创新的移动支持技术，例如自动驾驶、认知辅助、移动健康和万物互联。该项目的研究目标是设计、分析和评估在具有集成计算和通信活动的移动边缘计算(MEC)网络中提供无缝移动支持的新算法。提出的设计旨在将MEC中用户移动性造成的服务中断和性能降级降至最低。这项研究是第一次系统地解决在MEC网络无缝移动性支持过程中遇到的独特挑战。本项目包括三项研究任务，以实现无缝移动目标：(1)设计智能切换触发方案，以实现快速准确的无缝移动支持触发；(2)设计切换触发后在新的MEC服务器上无缝恢复卸载业务的服务重建过程；(3)设计服务分配方案，以最小化无线资源分配不公平导致的移动过程中的性能下降。这项研究提供了基本的构建块，并为MEC网络中的无缝移动性提供了宝贵的见解。该项目还将研究成果整合到相关的研究生课程和多样性支持中。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Mobile edge computing (MEC) has emerged as a promising technology to overcome the challenges of executing latency-sensitive and computation-intensive applications at resource-limited mobile devices, by pushing mobile computing, network control, and storage resources to the edge of mobile wireless networks. The mobility support issue is considered as a critical component to ensure the success of MEC. Although the mobility support issue has been extensively investigated in conventional wireless networks, mobility management schemes proposed in these networks consider the communication-only scenario, while MEC networks tie communications together with computing activities. Therefore, many issues related to mobility support in MEC networks remain unexplored. Existing communication-oriented mobility solutions will have serious performance degradation due to the neglect of computation related metrics in mobility solutions. In addition, new uplink and downlink traffic distribution in MEC creates unique challenges for seamless mobility support. This research will help generate innovative mobility support techniques for numerous applications, e.g., autonomous driving, cognitive assistance, mobile health, and Internet of Everything. It will also have significant impacts on research in emerging technologies with high mobility scenarios, such as connected vehicles and unmanned aerial systems.The research objective of this project is to design, analyze, and evaluate new algorithms for providing seamless mobility support in mobile edge computing (MEC) networks with integrated computing and communication activities. The proposed design is aimed at minimizing service disruptions and performance degradation caused by user mobility in MEC. This research is the first that systematically addresses the unique challenges encountered during the course of seamless mobility support in MEC networks. This project includes three research tasks to achieve the seamless mobility goal: (1) design a smart handoff triggering scheme to achieve a fast and accurate trigger for seamless mobility support; (2) design a service rebuilding process for seamlessly restoring offloaded services on the new MEC server after a handoff is triggered; and (3) design a service allocation scheme to minimize performance degradation during mobility caused by radio resource allocation unfairness. This research offers fundamental building blocks and provides invaluable insights towards seamless mobility in MEC networks. This project also integrates research findings into related graduate courses and diversity support.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.