학술논문

Mechanisms for Resource Allocation and Pricing in Mobile Edge Computing Systems
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems IEEE Trans. Parallel Distrib. Syst. Parallel and Distributed Systems, IEEE Transactions on. 33(3):667-682 Mar, 2022
Subject
Computing and Processing
Communication, Networking and Broadcast Technologies
Resource management
Servers
Pricing
Edge computing
Cloud computing
Cost accounting
Computational modeling
resource allocation
pricing
envy-free mechanism
approximation algorithm
Language
ISSN
1045-9219
1558-2183
2161-9883
Abstract
In this article, we address the resource allocation and monetization challenges in Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) systems, where users have heterogeneous demands and compete for high quality services. We formulate the Edge Resource Allocation Problem (${{\sf ERAP}}$ERAP) as a Mixed-Integer Linear Program (${{\sf MILP}}$MILP) and prove that ${{\sf ERAP}}$ERAP is ${{\sf NP}}$NP-hard. To solve the problem efficiently, we propose two resource allocation mechanisms. First, we develop an auction-based mechanism and prove that the proposed mechanism is individually-rational and produces envy-free allocations . We also propose an ${{\sf LP}}$LP-based approximation mechanism that does not guarantee envy-freeness, but it provides solutions that are guaranteed to be within a given distance from the optimal solution. We evaluate the performance of the proposed mechanisms by conducting an extensive experimental analysis on ${{\sf ERAP}}$ERAP instances of various sizes. We use the optimal solutions obtained by solving the ${{\sf MILP}}$MILP model using a commercial solver as benchmarks to evaluate the quality of solutions. Our analysis shows that the proposed mechanisms obtain near optimal solutions for fairly large size instances of the problem in a reasonable amount of time.