Addressing Fundamental Challenges in Mobile Cloud Computing with 4G LTE-Advanced

Abstract

Today, mobile tools, such as smartphones and tablets, have become primary computing devices for many users. One mobile tool to satisfy this is the 4G network technology LTE (Long-Term Evolution)-Advanced. These mobile tools are resource-poor due to limited battery life. Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) is intended to provide services to mobile users by supplementing the resource-paucity of mobile devices (i.e. off-loading tasks/data on the Internet and providing the resources to a local client on-demand). However, despite LTE-Advanced’s improved network quality, much needs to be done before MCC can reach its true potential. This chapter characterizes key challenges for deployment of MCC with 4G: device battery lifetime, latency, quality of service/experience, and handover. Statistical modeling is a powerful tool to address these issues. Once MCC with 4G network behavior is characterized, it is translated into the future development of innovative mobile technologies for a wide variety of new applications.