GHCC: Grouping-based and hierarchical collaborative caching for mobile edge computing

Abstract

Mobile edge computing (MEC) has emerged as a promising technique to address the challenge arising from the exponentially increasing data traffic. It not only supports mobile users to offload computations but also caches and delivers popular contents to mobile users. In this paper, we aim at designing novel content caching strategies in MEC networks to reduce access latency and improve energy efficiency. First, the distributed content delivery network based on MECs is developed to support users' requests locally. Moreover, based on users' distribution characteristics and MECs' location, a grouping-based and hierarchical collaborative caching strategy is proposed. Simulation results prove that our caching strategy is more efficient than alternative benchmark strategies in terms of average access latency, total energy consumption and content diversity.