The surge of mobile data traffic forces network operators to cope with capacity shortage. The deployment of small cells in 5G networks is meant to reduce latency, backhaul traffic and increase radio access capacity. In this context, mobile edge computing technology will be used to manage dedicated cache space in the radio access network. Thus, mobile network operators will be able to provision OTT content providers with new caching services to enhance the quality of experience of their customers on the move. In turn, the cache memory in the mobile edge network will become a shared resource. Hence, we study a competitive caching scheme where contents are stored at given price set by the mobile network operator. We first formulate a resource allocation problem for a tagged content provider seeking to minimize the expected missed cache rate. The optimal caching policy is derived accounting for popularity and availability of contents, the spatial distribution of small cells, and the caching strategies of competing content providers. It is showed to induce a specific order on contents to be cached based on their popularity and availability. Next, we study a game among content providers in the form of a generalized Kelly mechanism with bounded strategy sets and heterogeneous players. Existence and uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium are proved. Finally, extensive numerical results validate and characterize the performance of the model.
In @cite_7 a coded caching strategy is developed to optimize contents' placement based on SC association patterns. In @cite_22 a Stackelberg game is investigated to study a caching system consisting of a content provider and multiple network providers. In that model, the content providers lease their videos to the network providers to gain profit and network providers aim to save the backhaul costs by caching popular videos. In @cite_11 the authors model a wireless content distribution system where contents are replicated at multiple access points -- depending on popularity -- so as to maximally create network-coding opportunities during delivery. Finally, @cite_23 proposes proactive caching in order to take advantage of contents' popularity. The scheme we develop in this work can also be applied to proactive caching.
@cite_23 @cite_22 @cite_7 @cite_11
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Evidence indicates that downloading on-demand videos accounts for a dramatic increase in data traffic over cellular networks. Caching popular videos in the storage of small-cell base stations (SBSs), namely, small-cell caching, is an efficient technology for mitigating redundant data transmissions over backhaul channels in heterogeneous networks (HetNets). In this paper, we consider a commercialized small-cell caching system consisting of a video retailer (VR), multiple network service providers (NSPs), and mobile users (MUs). The VR leases its popular videos to the NSPs to make profits, and the NSPs, after placing these videos to their SBSs, can efficiently reduce the repetitive video transmissions over their backhaul channels. We study such a system within the framework of the Stackelberg game. We first model the MUs and SBSs as two independent Poisson point processes (PPPs) and develop the probability of the event that an MU can obtain the demanded video directly from the memory of an SBS. Then, based on the derived probability, we formulate a Stackelberg game to maximize jointly the average profit of the VR and the NSPs. Moreover, we investigate the Stackelberg equilibrium (SE) via solving an optimization problem. Numerical results are provided for verifying the proposed framework by showing its effectiveness on pricing and resource allocation. To alleviate the backhaul burden and reduce user-perceived latency, content caching at base stations has been identified as a key technology. However, the caching strategy design at the wireless edge is challenging, especially when both wired backhaul condition and wireless channel quality are considered in the optimization. In this paper, taking into account the conditions of the backhaul in terms of delay and wireless channel quality, joint design and optimization of the caching and user association policy to minimize the average download delay is studied in a cache-enabled heterogeneous network. We first prove the joint caching and association optimization problem is NP-hard based on a reduction to the facility location problem. Furthermore, in order to reduce the complexity, a distributed algorithm is developed by decomposing the NP-hard problem into an assignment problem solvable by the Hungarian method and two simple linear integer subproblems, with the aid of McCormick envelopes and the Lagrange partial relaxation method. Simulation results reveal a near-optimal performance that performs up to 22 better in term of delay compared with those in the literatures at a low complexity of @math . We introduce the concept of resource management for in-network caching environments. We argue that in Information-Centric Networking environments, deterministically caching content messages at predefined places along the content delivery path results in unfair and inefficient content multiplexing between different content flows, as well as in significant caching redundancy. Instead, allocating resources along the path according to content flow characteristics results in better use of network resources and therefore, higher overall performance. The design principles of our proposed in-network caching scheme, which we call ProbCache, target these two outcomes, namely reduction of caching redundancy and fair content flow multiplexing along the delivery path. In particular, ProbCache approximates the caching capability of a path and caches contents probabilistically to: 1) leave caching space for other flows sharing (part of) the same path, and 2) fairly multiplex contents in caches along the path from the server to the client. We elaborate on the content multiplexing fairness of ProbCache and find that it sometimes behaves in favor of content flows connected far away from the source, that is, it gives higher priority to flows travelling longer paths, leaving little space to shorter-path flows. We introduce an enhanced version of the main algorithm that guarantees fair behavior to all participating content flows. We evaluate the proposed schemes in both homogeneous and heterogeneous cache size environments and formulate a framework for resource allocation in in-network caching environments. The proposed probabilistic approach to in-network caching exhibits ideal performance both in terms of network resource utilization and in terms of resource allocation fairness among competing content flows. Finally, and in contrast to the expected behavior, we find that the efficient design of ProbCache results in fast convergence to caching of popular content items. This article explores one of the key enablers of beyond 4G wireless networks leveraging small cell network deployments, proactive caching. Endowed with predictive capabilities and harnessing recent developments in storage, context awareness, and social networks, peak traffic demands can be substantially reduced by proactively serving predictable user demands via caching at base stations and users' devices. In order to show the effectiveness of proactive caching, we examine two case studies that exploit the spatial and social structure of the network, where proactive caching plays a crucial role. First, in order to alleviate backhaul congestion, we propose a mechanism whereby files are proactively cached during off-peak periods based on file popularity and correlations among user and file patterns. Second, leveraging social networks and D2D communications, we propose a procedure that exploits the social structure of the network by predicting the set of influential users to (proactively) cache strategic contents and disseminate them to their social ties via D2D communications. Exploiting this proactive caching paradigm, numerical results show that important gains can be obtained for each case study, with backhaul savings and a higher ratio of satisfied users of up to 22 and 26 percent, respectively. Higher gains can be further obtained by increasing the storage capability at the network edge.