GPU/QoE-Aware Server Selection Using Metaheuristic Algorithms in Multiplayer Cloud Gaming

Abstract

The combination of cloud computing and advancements in GPU have made many real time services possible, including Cloud Gaming (CG). Doing all the process-intensive tasks in the cloud frees players from upgrading their heterogeneous devices and installing new software, and lets them play wherever and whenever. However, higher quality is always demanded by players. For instance, as frame rate has major impact on the player's gaming performance, demand of higher frame rate is increasing. On the other hand, service providers aim to offer cost effective services. Management of the graphic-intensive CG service demand and maximizing the service providers' benefits is an issue that must be addressed properly. As remote GPU plays the main role of rendering and is the most expensive infrastructure rented by the service provider, its appropriate management is vital to address the above issue. To do so, we formulate the problem in an efficient manner and propose two methods to maximize both GPU utilization and the users' quality of experience (QoE) at the same time, subject to the constraints of the servers. Our methods are based on two metaheuristic algorithms to solve an NP-Hard optimization problem for GPU-based server selection. Our simulation results shows that by increasing the number of players, both algorithms have increasing performance in terms of GPU utilization, reduced capacity wastage, and QoE.