ICE-T: RC: Horizontal Resource Management in Distributed Edge Clouds

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

The latency, bandwidth, and mobility needs of the next-generation Internet of Things (IoT), smart wearables, and augmented reality applications and devices makes traditional cloud platforms ill-suited to their needs. Edge cloud computing, where computational and storage resources are deployed at the edge of the network and offered through a cloud model, has emerged as a promising alternative to address the needs of these emerging applications. This project examines network-aware horizontal resource management in edge clouds and will focus on three synergistic topics. First, the team will design network-aware orchestration algorithms for edge clouds, including new edge cloud migration technique that combines multi-path transport and virtual machine migration to provide network-transparent low-latency access in the face of user and device mobility. Second, the team will study network-aware placement in distributed edge clouds that incorporates the application's latency and bandwidth needs while being aware of interacting distributed edge and virtualized network functions. Third, the project research will address the fundamental issue of the control plane architecture for massively distributed edge clouds and will study both decentralized and hierarchical control plane architectures for future edge clouds. The project team will study the tradeoffs and benefits of both architectures through the lens of orchestration algorithms such as geo-elastic scaling algorithms as well as edge migration and network-aware placement. Our research will also involve prototype implementation and large-scale experimentation on multiple experimental research testbeds. This project will extend a collaboration between the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Umea University, Sweden. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.