Complete edge function onloading for effective backend-driven cyber foraging

Edge computing, which is a fundamental component of emerging 5G architectures, involves onloading or offloading multiple virtual network functions from mobile devices to an edge network substrate. In this paper, we present a model for the complete edge function onloading problem, which consists of three main phases: (1) Cyber foraging, which involves discovery of resources monitoring the state of edge resources, (2) edge function mapping, which involves matching requests to available resources, and (3) allocation, which involves assigning resources to mappings. Using optimization theory, we show how these three phases are tightly connected, and how the wide spectrum of existing solutions that either solve a particular phase, or jointly solve two of the phases (along with their interactions), are incomplete and may lead to inefficiencies. Moreover, with extensive simulation experiments we demonstrate that joint optimization of all three phases enables the edge network to host a larger set of constrained edge function requests.