Hierarchical Framework with Distributed Resource Allocation for Mobile Fog Computing

Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)

Duration: October 2017 - September 2020

Investigators: Dr. Jiang (Linda) Xie (PI, UNC-Charlotte) and Dr. Zhu Han (PI, University of Houston)

Students: Wahida Nasrin (UNCC), Haoxin Wang(UNCC), Huaqing Zhang (UH), Sai Mounika Errapotu (UH), and Neetu Raveendran (UH)

Overview:

A mobile fog computing system is composed of geo-distributed fog nodes (FNs), which can be any fixed or mobile collaborative devices with build-in data storage, computing, and communication devices. Benefiting from the small scale, low cost, and mobility, the FNs located around authorized data service subscribers (ADSSs) are able to offload data traffic from the cloud, reduce the cost of communications in the networks, and provide real-time, location-awareness data services. However, the joint radio and computation resource allocation in mobile fog computing becomes complicated and challenging since there are multiple distributed and autonomous entities in the network.

This research offers novel advances in improving the design and analysis of mobile fog computing, especially from the perspectives of resource allocation and mobility management. The research objective of this project is to design, analyze, and evaluate a hierarchical framework with distributed resource allocation for mobile fog computing considering multiple data service operators serving multitudes of users at the same time.

This research offers transformative advances in the design of future fog computing and mobility issues of customers. This project is interdisciplinary by nature, and encompasses concepts from economics, decision theory, optimization, information theory, communications, and networking.

Research Activities and Key Outcomes:

This project has the following main research components:

• Hierarchical Framework with Interactions for Resource Allocation: analyze the interactions among data service operators (DSOs), FNs, and ADSSs, and investigate the interactions and identified research problems in a proposed joint hierarchical optimization framework in a distributed fashion.

• Distributed Game Theoretical Approach: model the interactions among DSOs, FNs, and ADSSs using game theoretical approaches. The merits of the proposed game theoretical approaches are distributed, easy to solve combinatorial of matching, and asymmetric information.

• Mobility Management in Mobile Fog Computing: design mobility management schemes to maintain cloud connectivity to the best FN, to avoid Quality-of-Service degradation for data processing and access, to support dynamic adaptation of computing resources due to the mobility of ADSSs and FNs.

Publications:

• Junhua Wang, Kai Liu, Bin Li, Tingting Liu, Ruoguang Li, and Zhu Han, "Delay-sensitive Multi-period Computation Offloading with Reliability Guarantees in Fog Networks," to appear in IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 2019.

• Ye Yu, Xiangyuan Bu, Kai Yang, Zhikun Wu, and Zhu Han, "Green Large-Scale Fog Computing Resource Allocation using Joint Benders Decomposition, Dinkelbach Algorithm, ADMM, and Branch-and-bound," to appear in IEEE Internet of Things Journal, Special Issue on Emerging Computing Offloading for IoTs: Architectures, Technologies, and Applications, 2019.

• Muhammad Waqas, Yong Li, Manzoor Ahmed, Depeng Jin, and Zhu Han, "Mobility Aware Fog Computing in Dynamic Environments: Understandings and Implementation," to appear in IEEE Access, 2019.

• Zehui Xiong, Shaohan Feng, Wenbo Wang, Dusit Niyato, Ping Wang, and Zhu Han, "Cloud/Fog Computing Resource Management and Pricing for Blockchain Networks," to appear in IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 2019.

• Yu Du, Jun Li, Long Shi, Tingting Liu, Feng Shu, and Zhu Han, "Two-tier Matching Game in Small Cell Networks with Mobile Edge Computing," to appear in IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, 2019.

• Tingting Liu, Jun Li, Feng Shu, Haibing Guan, Yongpeng Wu, and Zhu Han, "Incentive Mechanism Design for Two-Layer Wireless Edge Caching Networks Using Contract Theory," to appear in IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, 2019.

• Dong Wang, Bo Bai, Kai Lei, Wenbo Zhao, Yanping Yang, and Zhu Han, "Enhancing Information Security via Physical Layer Approaches in Heterogeneous IoT with Multi-Access Mobile Edge Computing in Smart City," to appear in IEEE Access, 2019.

• Anselme Ndikumana, Nguyen H. Tran, Tai Manh Ho, Zhu Han, Walid Saad, Dusit Niyato, and Choong Seon Hong, "Joint Communication, Computation, Caching, and Control in Big Data Multi-access Edge Computing," to appear in IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 2019.

• Yifei Wei, Da Guo, F. Richard Yu, and Zhu Han, "Joint Optimization of Caching, Computing, and Radio Resources for Mobile Edge Networks Using Natural Actor Critic Deep Reinforcement Learning," to appear in IEEE Internet of Things Journal, Special Issue on AI-Enabled Cognitive Communications and Networking for IoT, 2019.

• Zehui Xiong, Yang Zhang, Dusit Niyato, Ping Wang, and Zhu Han, "When Mobile Blockchain Meets Edge Computing: Challenges and Applications," to appear in IEEE Communications Magazine, 2019.

• Zehui Xiong, Shaohan Feng, Dusit Niyato, Ping Wang, Amir Leshem, and Zhu Han, "Joint Sponsored and Edge Caching Content Service Market: A Game-Theoretic Approach," IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 1166-1181, February 2019.

• Shuai Yu, Rami Langar, Xiaoming Fu, Li Wang, and Zhu Han, "Computation Offloading with Caching Enhancement for Mobile Edge Computing," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 67, no. 11, pp. 11098-11112, November 2018.

• Dinh Thai Hoang, Dusit Niyato, Diep Nguyen, Eryk Dutkiewicz, and Zhu Han, "A Dynamic Edge Caching Framework for Mobile 5G Networks," IEEE Communication Magazine, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 95-103, October 2018.

• Zijie Zheng, Lingyang Song, Zhu Han, Geoffrey Ye Li, and H. Vincent Poor, "A Stackelberg Game Approach to Proactive Caching in Large-Scale Mobile Edge Networks," IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 17, no. 8, pp. 5198-5211, August 2018.

• Xiuhua Li, Xiaofei Wang, Peng-Jun Wan, Zhu Han, and Victor C. M. Leung, "Hierarchical Edge Caching in Device-to-Device Aided Mobile Networks: Modeling, Optimization, and Design," IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC), special issue on Caching for Communication Systems and Networks, vol. 36, no. 8, pp. 1768-1785, August 2018.

• Yunan Gu, Zheng Chang, Miao Pan, Lingyang Song, and Zhu Han, "Joint Radio and Computational Resource Allocation in IoT Fog Computing," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 67, no. 8, pp. 7475-7484, August 2018.

• Huaqing Zhang, Yong Xiao, Shengrong Bu, Dusit Niyato, F. Richard Yu, and Zhu Han, "Computing Resource Allocation in Three-Tier IoT Fog Networks: a Joint Optimization Approach Combining Stackelberg Game and Matching," IEEE Internet Of Things Journal, Special Issue on Fog Computing in the Internet of Things, vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 1204-1215, October 2017.

• Huaqing Zhang, Yanru Zhang, Yunan Gu, Dusit Niyato, and Zhu Han, "A Hierarchical Game Framework for Resource Management in Fog Computing," IEEE Communications Magazine, special issue on Fog Computing and Networking, vol. 55, no. 8, pp. 52-57, August 2017.

• Chunxia Su, Fang Ye, Yuan Tian, and Zhu Han, "Computation Offloading with Dynamic Matching Algorithm in Mobile Edge Computing Networks," in Proc. IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC), September 2019.

• Bingjie Liu, Haitao Xu, Xianwei Zhou, Zhu Han, "Stackelberg Differential Game based Resource Allocation in Wireless Networks with Fog Computing," in Proc. IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China, August 2019.

• Junhua Wang, Tingting Liu, Kai Liu, BaekGyu Kim, Jiang Xie, and Zhu Han, "Computation Offloading over Fog and Cloud using Multi-Dimensional Multiple Knapsack Problem," in Proc. IEEE Global Communications Conference (Globecom), December 2018.

• Ye Yu, Xiangyuan Bu, Kai Yang, and Zhu Han, "Green Fog Computing Resource Allocation using Joint Benders Decomposition, Dinkelbach Algorithm and Modified Distributed Inner Convex Approximation," in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), May 2018.

• Wahida Nasrin and Jiang Xie, "SharedMEC: Sharing Clouds to Support User Mobility in Mobile Edge Computing," in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), May 2018.

• Haoxin Wang, Jiang Xie, and Tao Han, "A Smart Service Rebuilding Scheme Across Cloudlets via Mobile AR Frame Feature Mapping," in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), May 2018.

• Tingting Liu, Jun Li, BaekGyu Kim, Chung-Wei Lin, Shinichi Shiraishi, Jiang Xie, and Zhu Han, "Distributed File Allocation Using Matching Game in Mobile Fog-Caching Service Network," in Proc. IEEE Conference on Computer Communications Workshops (INFOCOM WKSHPS): IECCO: Integrating Edge Computing, Caching, and Offloading in Next Generation Networks, April 2018.

• Neetu Raveendran, Huaqing Zhang, Zijie Zheng, Lingyang Song, and Zhu Han, "Large-Scale Fog Computing Optimization using Equilibrium Problem with Equilibrium Constraints," in Proc. IEEE Global Communications Conference (Globecom), December 2017.

Broader Impact:

This research improves the design methodology by providing new perspectives and solution concepts for mobile fog computing. The unique angles of the proposed cross-layer approaches fill the gap of current research. The theoretical and practical implications of the proposed schemes can significantly push the research frontier of literature.

Education Activities:

• Curriculum Enhancement: research results on fog computing and networking, game theory, security and privacy, and data analysis from this research are incorporated into the graduate-level courses.

• Graduate Student Mentoring: five PhD students worked or are working on the research of this project, including three female PhD students.

• Outreach to Industry: collaborative research on mobile fog computing is conducted with Toyota InfoTechnology Center and Tencent.

• Outreach: Dr. Zhu Han served as a Judge for the FIRST^® LEGO League in Texas, March 2019. [Photo]

• Outreach: Girls in Engineering at the University of Houston, March 2019. [Photo] [Photo]