ABSTRACT
Cloudlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 6.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
A mobile cloudlet is a set of resource-rich mobile devices-referred to as cloudlet nodes-that an initiator mobile device can connect to for computing services. In mobile cloudlet, users can exploit the benefits of cloud computing without long wireless local area network (WLAN) communication latency as computing resources reside on local devices. In this chapter, we examine the fundamental properties of mobile cloudlet that unfold whether and when a mobile cloudlet can provide mobile application services. Specifically, we investigate the cloudlet node’s lifetime and reachable time. Traces and
mathematical analysis demonstrate that (1) intermittent connection between devices has little adverse effect on the optimal computing performance of mobile cloudlet in the long run; (2) the ratio E(TC )/[E(TI ) + E(TC )] indicates the connection likelihood of an initiator and a cloudlet node (i.e., reachability of the cloudlet node), where TC and TI are their contact and inter-contact time. We further derive upper and lower bounds on computing capacity and computing speed of a mobile cloudlet. An initiator can use both bounds to decide whether to off-load its task to remote clouds or local mobile cloudlets for better mobile application services.
