Communication Networks Research Center

Cloudlet federation for resource optimisation

Mobile devices face a resource scarcity challenge because of limited power, storage and computation. Cloud computing offers a way to offload compute-intensive tasks to a resource-rich environment, but users cannot exploit its full potential because of distance, bandwidth and seamless connectivity between the remote cloud and mobile devices. The cloudlet — a mini cloud in closer proximity with rich computing resources and a stable Internet connection — is widely used to address these challenges. As devices and workload increase, the cloudlet itself has to deal with resource scarcity by forwarding requests to the resource-extensive remote cloud. This research addresses the resource scarcity challenge at cloudlet level, keeping requests from being forwarded to the remote cloud.