Seamless Multi-Access Edge Computing Application Handover Experiments

Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) is one of the fundamental technologies committed to satisfy the requirements targeted by 5G and beyond networks, such as low latency and massive communications. Nevertheless, deploying a large-scale MEC infrastructure will require a huge investment that should be minimized by optimizing the resources at edge locations, and to use centralized datacenters when possible. Thus, automated orchestration is essential for implementing mechanisms that deploy applications at the best location and even that relocate them, when necessary, to satisfy the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. In this paper we describe an architecture for this purpose, which we have implemented in an experiment that demonstrates how Open Source MANO (OSM) can automate the relocation of a video processing application that helps drivers to remember the latest traffic sign viewed. Our proposal also includes two new components: the first one maintains the state of the applications when they are deployed at a new location, and the second one allows OSM managing the Open Network Edge Services Software (OpenNESS) edge platform. Finally, we elaborate on open challenges in MEC platforms.