Performance Analysis of Mobile Cloud Computing with Bursty Demand: A Tandem Queue Model

Resource-constrained end devices can offload computation to backend clouds. The stochastic wireless channel that an end device is connected to can introduce bursty computation demand to the cloud. Specifically, under good channel conditions, a device can transmit more data to the cloud, which consequently yields higher instantaneous computation demand. Conversely, poor channel conditions can result in lower instantaneous demand. The performance indicator for such a mobile cloud computing system is the average of the response time, which is the time span from the arrival of the computation demand at the backend cloud instance to the completion of its execution. The question we target in this paper is how resources should be provisioned for the backend cloud instance to address this bursty computation demand and guarantee a desired quality-of-service (QoS), namely, a user-specified average response time. To answer this question, we model the mobile cloud computing system as two tandem queues. We analyze this queueing network using the fluid flow analysis framework, and derive the analytical relationship between the required resource capacity at the backend cloud instance and the desired QoS, given the workload generation process at the end device and the wireless channel conditions. Having obtained the required resource capacity for a desired QoS, we then determine whether it is economical to provision this resource capacity by subscribing to the traditional static instance or the recently introduced burstable instance offered by public cloud providers. Finally, trace-driven simulations validate our theoretical results.