Energy-efficient resource allocation in software-defined mobile networks with mobile edge computing and caching

Abstract

In this paper, we study the energy-efficient resource allocation in software-defined mobile networks with mobile edge computing and caching. With the introduction of caching and computing functions in mobile networks, content sources need to be selected according to the distribution of contents in caches, the capability of computational resources and the status of networks. Moreover, the network needs to provision bandwidth on each link for data flows from the source to the destination by allocating backhaul and radio resources. In this framework, we formulate a novel optimization problem to jointly consider bandwidth provisioning and content source selection. To solve this problem efficiently, firstly the content source selection problem is decoupled from the bandwidth provisioning problem by deploying dual-decomposition method. Additionally, based on alternating direction method of multipliers, we develop decentralized schemes to solve the decoupled problems across links and base stations coordinated by a central controller. Simulation results are presented to show the performance of the proposed scheme.