Distributed Resource Allocation and Coordinated Scheduling for End-Edge-Cloud Collaborative Computing

Changqing Long, Wenchao Meng, Shizhong Li, Shibo He, Chaojie Gu, Lin Cai

Abstract: Multi-tier computation offloading is crucial to address capacity constraints and improve flexibility for mobile devices. However, existing research on multi-layer computing offloading faces challenges like inefficient resource utilization and poor scalability, particularly in handling diverse computational tasks. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a distributed resource allocation and mixed task offloading framework for end-edge-cloud collaborative systems that support partial and full task offloading modes. First, we propose a three-tier network computing architecture and formulate a task-offloading utility maximization problem by jointly optimizing mixed task-offloading and resource allocation. The proposed problem is a mixed integer nonlinear program (MINLP), which we solve by decomposing it into two subproblems resource allocation and task offloading. Edge computing resources and bandwidth allocation can be independently optimized at each edge node with a fixed task offloading strategy. Cloud computing resource allocation, while convex, involves a global constraint, which we solve in a decentralized manner using a multi-agent optimization approach. Then, we propose a joint task offloading and resource allocation optimization algorithm, CNO-TORA, to obtain the solution to the formulated problem. The algorithm is supported by strong theoretical guarantees and is almost surely convergent to a globally optimal solution. Experimental results on a real dataset demonstrate that our algorithm is scalable to large-scale networks and outperforms baselines, achieving improvements in average system utility ranging from 4.01%-28.15%.

External IDs:doi:10.1109/tmc.2025.3599885