Task offloading strategies for mobile edge computing: A survey

Shi Dong, Junxiao Tang, Khushnood Abbas, Ruizhe Hou, Joarder Kamruzzaman, Leszek Rutkowski, Rajkumar Buyya

Abstract: With the wide adoption of 5G technology and the rapid development of 6G technology, a variety of new applications have emerged. A multitude of compute-intensive and time-sensitive applications deployed on terminal equipment have placed increased demands on Internet delay and bandwidth. Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) can effectively mitigate the issues of long transmission times, high energy consumption, and data insecurity. Task offloading, as a key technology within MEC, has become a prominent research focus in this field. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the current research progress in MEC task offloading. Firstly, it introduces the fundamental concepts, application scenarios, and related technologies of MEC. Secondly, it categorizes offloading decisions into five aspects: reducing delay, minimizing energy consumption, balancing energy consumption and delay, enabling high-computing offloading, and addressing different application scenarios. It then critically analyzes and compares existing research efforts in these areas.