Auction-based profit maximization offloading in mobile edge computing

Offloading Mobile Devices (MDs) computation tasks to Edge Nodes (ENs) is a promising solution to overcome computation and energy resources limitations of MDs. However, there exists an unreasonable profit allocation problem between MDs and ENs caused by the excessive concern on MD profit. In this paper, we propose an auction-based computation offloading algorithm, inspiring ENs to provide high-quality service by maximizing the profit of ENs. Firstly, a novel cooperation auction framework is designed to avoid overall profit damage of ENs, which is derived from the high computation delay at the overloaded ENs. Thereafter, the bidding willingness of each MD in every round of auction is determined to ensure MD rationality. Furthermore, we put forward a payment rule for the pre-selected winner to effectively guarantee auction truthfulness. Finally, the auction-based profit maximization offloading algorithm is proposed, and the MD is allowed to occupy the computation and spectrum resources of the EN for offloading if it wins the auction. Numerical results verify the performance of the proposed algorithm. Compared with the VA algorithm, the ENs profit is increased by 23.8%, and the task discard ratio is decreased by 7.5%.