2016 International Conference on Next Generation Intelligent Systems (ICNGIS)
A Computation Offloading Scheme for
Performance Enhancement of Smart Mobile
Devices for Mobile Cloud Computing
Queen Kaur Gill
Student: M. Tech., Computer Engineering and Technology
Guru Nanak Dev University
Amritsar, India
queengill29@gmail.com
Abstract The advancements in the world of mobile
technology have enabled computational intensive applications on
the latest smart phones. Still Smart Mobile Devices (SMD's) have
low potential and are unable to run complex applications due to
their limited battery life, storage capacity, processor speed and
energy. These limitations of smart phones can be addressed
through Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) which allows the
computational intensive applications from smart phones to get
offloaded over the cloud environment. In this paper, computation
offloading scheme has been proposed that distributes the
workload among various Virtual Machines (VM's) on the basis of
their distance from the current VM. The offloading will decrease
the load on the current VM and increase the performance and
speed of execution. The Buffer Allocation Method (BAM) is
proposed which will further enhance the performance by
eliminating the redundancy of the data to be transmitted during
offloading. The results indicate that the speed of execution
increases, energy consumption decreases and the load gets
balanced due to offloading.
Keywords computation offloading; energy efficiency; mobile
cloud computing; load; execution time
I. INTRODUCTION
Mobile devices have evolved from being used only for two
way communication via text or call few years back to Smart
Mobile Devices (SMDs) of today that have extended
capabilities to run intense mobile applications using Internet.
SMDs such as Smart-phones, tablets, and Personal
Computers (PCs) process the large volume of data and also the
complexity of mobile applications is increasing at the fast rate.
The gap between the demand for the complex mobile
applications and the availability of limited resources is
increasing [4]. However, latest developments in the area of
mobile computing have overcome this gap but still these
SMDs are low potential computing devices which are
constrained in memory capacity, battery power endurance and
CPU speed.
With the recent developments in technology of mobile
computing, SMD offers huge internal memory capacity as
well as extendable external memory, high speed processors,
bigger screens, sensors as well as various complex
applications such as environmental sensing, object
978-1-5090-0870-4/16/$31.00 2016 IEEE
Kiranbir Kaur
Assistant Professor: Computer Engineering and Technology
Guru Nanak Dev University
Amritsar, India
kiran.dcse@gndu.ac.in
recognition, GPS navigation etc. [9, 12]. Wireless networks
are used in most of these applications and their bandwidths are
much lower than the wired networks. All these together put
heavy load on the SMDs and decrease their performance [11].
Cloud computing provides a broad range of shared
processing computing resources. Cloud computing is an
Internet based computing or an on-demand computing which
provides an environment that is scalable, flexible, secure and
immediate [7]. The provisioning of shared computing
resources from the cloud is very easy and quick and also the
releasing of these resources after use requires very less
management effort [22]. In order to enhance the performance
of SMD, the concept of Cloud Computing can be used in
various mobile applications running on SMDs. The term
Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) emerges with the support
and integration of Cloud Computing into various complex
mobile applications.
MCC brings wide range of computational resources and
complex mobile-cloud applications to the SMD users. MCC
allows storage and processing of mobile-cloud applications to
occur away from the SMD and into the cloud environment [3,
6]. One of the main features of MCC is Computation
Offloading which involves migration of the computational
intensive tasks or applications to servers in cloud environment
in order to execute them and then retrieving the results of
execution from these servers. SMDs utilize the resource-rich
infrastructures provided by the MCC by offloading the
computation to the cloud in order to save energy due to which
battery lifetime of SMD gets increased.
Computation offloading increases the capability of SMD to
perform complex applications efficiently. It involves various
parameters such as current memory capacity and battery life of
SMD, execution time, data traffic, network bandwidth and
latency and run-time migration cost of data from SMD to the
cloud etc. [10]. All these parameters must be taken into
consideration before offloading the computation. After
scrutinizing all these parameters, the decision to offload the
current computation is taken. If the offloading will improve
the performance of SMD then it is performed, otherwise
computation can run locally on the SMD itself.
 2016 International Conference on Next Generation Intelligent Systems (ICNGIS)
The rest of the paper is arranged as follows. Section 2
presents the current computation offloading schemes for
MCC. Section 3 presents the proposed computation offloading
scheme (COS) with proposed algorithm. Section 4 presents
experimental setup. Section 5 presents results and discusses
the findings. Section 6 presents conclusion and future work.
II. RELATED WORK
Over the years, many schemes have been proposed in order
to make the computation offloading realistic and feasible. All
these schemes are used to increase the overall performance of
the SMDs by providing more memory capacity, processing
power, bandwidth, energy and battery life. In this section, the
brief review of some existing computation offloading schemes
is provided.
An adaptive scheme in [21] maintains the execution profile
which is attained by program execution. Using this execution
profile, the process of computation offloading is implemented.
The decision for offloading the application is taken based on
the specified time-limit. If the local execution of application
by the SMD is not completed within a given time-limit, then
only it is made to run on the server. The time taken by the
local execution of application by SMD is compared with the
remote execution of similar application by the server is
compared and considerable improvement is observed.
An application partitioning algorithm suggested in [15],
which divides the application to be executed into two parts,
the un-offloaded part that can execute locally on the SMD and
the second part that further consists of N parts that can be
offloaded to the server. The multi-cost graph is generated
when these parts are dynamically modeled and shows
communication and execution costs. In order to do the
effective partitioning, weights of edges and vertex are also
considered by the algorithm. Wishbone [14] is another
application partitioning algorithm. It also involves profiling.
Modeling of application is done in the form of data flow graph
which minimize CPU load and improve network bandwidth.
MAUI (Memory Arithmetic Unit and Interface) [2]
presents code partitioning technique used for offloading to
server node dynamically. The two versions of application
under consideration are created by using code portability. The
SMD can run one version locally and another version can be
executed in the cloud. MAUI creates a linear programming
formulation of three parameters. At run time, three parameters
energy utilization, communication cost and network
bandwidth and latency are considered in order to create a
linear programming formulation. These formulations help
MAUI to make the optimal decisions regarding application
partitioning.
The CloneCloud framework [1] like MAUI [2] also does
partitioning of application and its reintegration but statically at
the level of application. Hence, the framework statically
analyzes the diverse execution conditions at the SMD end and
at the cloud end. In this manner, the CloneCloud synchronizes
the SMD and the server node.
A mobile based framework in [16] uses mobile phone
sensors to collect and sample the information about the social
behavior of various users. It becomes very difficult to process
very large information captured by the mobile phone. Hence,
this processing is done remotely on the cloud.
The Phone2cloud framework [20] enables static
quantitative analysis which helps to make decision whether to
offload the applications computation to the cloud or not.
Users delay tolerance threshold is an important parameter
considered in this framework. The average execution time of
the application running on the SMD is compared with the
users delay-tolerance threshold. If users delay tolerance is
larger than the average execution time required to run the
application then computation is offloaded to the cloud,
otherwise computation is made to run on the SMD. The main
purpose is to decrease the execution time and energy
utilization cost. Another decision making technique in [13]
decides whether to offload the applications computation to
the cloud or not. If the values of parameters such as battery
life, processing power and memory capacity of the SMD are
successfully determined by the SMD the application can be
executed locally on the SMD itself. Else, the same application
can be executed remotely within Femtocell (having less power
and low cost and secure Home Node Base Station) under
which SMD is registered. The computation time and deadline
to execute the application are the two parameters used by the
Queue Assignment algorithm in order to execute the
application.
The COSMOS [17] is another static framework which
provides computation offloading as a service for mobile
systems. Mobile users send requests for resources required for
computation offloading and this framework allocates on-
demand compute resources from cloud service provider to the
mobile users.
A Lightweight Distributed Framework [18] offloads the
computation to the resources of cloud on demand basis. This
framework restricts any additional resources used for the
process of computational offloading from SMD to server node
by monitoring the various services of cloud. In order to access
the services of cloud, the SaaS model is used whereas Energy
Efficient Computation Offloading Framework (EECOF) [19]
uses SaaS model as well as IaaS model. The components of
application are configured on the cloud or server node through
SaaS model and the IaaS model is used by mobile applications
to configure the process of offloading. Both the frameworks
can run in two modes, offline and online. Execution at the
offline mode signifies that required amount of resources are
available locally within the SMD and the given mobile
application can be executed locally on the SMD itself,
whereas, the execution at the online mode allows the
computation of mobile application to be offloaded at the
remote server node.
 2016 International Conference on Next Generation Intelligent Systems (ICNGIS)
III. THE PROPOSED COMPUTATION OFFLOADING SCHEME (COS)
The computation offloading will involve energy
consumption as well as run-time migration cost. The existing
schemes fail to address this issue which arises due to
redundancy and shortfall in distance consideration. Hence
more resources of SMD are utilized unnecessarily. If the data
is not updated at multiple places then many instances of same
data will exists on mobile side as well as cloud side. Hence,
more energy will be consumed, which will further decrease the
performance of SMD. So, there must be some creteria or
technique to handle the redundant data in order to maintain the
consistency and reduce unnecessary usage of resources.
The main objectives of the proposed scheme are:
a) Making the computation offloading more energy-efficient
by reducing execution time and load on the current
machine.
b) Removing replicated data and maintaining the consistency
between mobile side and cloud side so that same data does
not get offloaded again and again.
c) Reduce run-time migration cost by selecting the VM
having closest distance from the current VM.
d) To increase throughput and decrease energy consumption
cost on SMD.
Fig.1. Methodology of proposed computation offloading
scheme
The methodology of proposed computation offloading
scheme is shown in figure 1. The proposed computation
offloading scheme (COS) first removes the redundancy of the
data selected to be offloaded and then consider the distance of
the selected machines or devices from the local SMD. In the
proposed scheme, the different Virtual Machines (VMs) act as
the devices to which computation is to be offloaded.
The Buffer Allocation Method shown in figure 2 is the
packet handling mechanism which is a base to determine the
overhead associated with the proposed scheme. The processing
of input data takes place in the form of packet sequences. It
ensures that same data does not get offloaded again and again
toward the destination. The number of packets to be offloaded
determines the overhead cost. When the same packet is
transferred multiple times then the overhead associated with
the system also gets doubled. So, the input data which is to be
offloaded is maintained within the buffer initially. The next
sequence number of packet to be offloaded will be compared
against the packets sequence number which is already stored
within the buffer. If the match occurs then the current packet is
rejected. The next packet is considered afterwards. After
removing the redundant data, the data is transmitted through
valid path from buffer to the cloud.
Fig 2. Buffer Allocation Method
In the proposed scheme, after removing redundancy from
the data to be offloaded using buffer allocation method,
distance is the next criterion which is used to reduce the effort
required to perform offloading. The distance between the local
device which acts as current VM (Virtual Machine) and the
VM which is selected for offloading will be considered. VM
with the minimum distance is selected for offloading at first
place. The VM with larger distance is selected if the VM with
the minimum distance is already occupied. The distance is
calculated using Euclidean distance. The formula utilized is
given as follows:
 2016 International Conference on Next Generation Intelligent Systems (ICNGIS)

as large as possible. Mathematical formulation of Knapsack

problem is given as:

The p and q are the VM nodes and dist (p, q) give the
Max vi xi subject to wi xi W and xi 0 (2)
distance between the nodes. Minimum distance between the
nodes is selected for further operation. V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The Algorithm for the proposed computation offloading The proposed COS prototype is evaluated by running quick
scheme (COS) considers the distance as well as redundancy of sort and knapsack problem in local and remote execution
the data while offloading. The offloading if efficiently environment. Experimentation is performed in two different
performed reduces the complexity and the energy consumed. scenarios:
a) Execution of applications on local machine and
b) Execution of applications using COS prototype.
Algorithm COS (Datai, PSi, VM, Disti) // PS is the computation
to be offloaded and executed on the VM The execution time, load on the machine and energy
consumption while running applications locally as well on
a) Receive the Data (Datai) and store it into the Buffer remotely are measured and compared.
b) Buffer=Unique(Datai) //Eliminating redundancy using
Buffer allocation method 5.1 Quick Sort
c) Determine Distance of VM
Disti=DistCVM-DistSVM where CVM means Current When the computational load on the local machine exceeds
Virtual Machine and SVM means Selected Virtual the certain limit, it will take more time to execute the heavy
Machine computation. In such case, it will be more efficient to offload
d) If Disti<Disti+1 then the computation to some remote machine in order to perform
Offload (VMi, PS) computation.
Else
During Experiment, the Quick Sort application sorts 10,000
Offload (VMi+1, PS)
elements. It is observed that remote execution by COS method
End of if
e) Stop balances the computational load (fig. 4) and takes lesser
execution time (fig. 3) for running heavy computations as
compared to when the heavy computation is performed
IV. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP without using COS method. Fig. 5 shows that the COS method
The proposed computation offloading scheme (COS) is is more energy efficient. The computation is offloaded to the
evaluated by running Quick sort and Knapsack problem. The nearest VM so that run-time migration cost as well as overall
experiments are performed using Java and Net Beans 8.0 as an energy consumption cost is reduced.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The simulation is
conducted using Cloudsim 3.0.3 toolkit [5] which is integrated
with the Net Beans 8.0. Cloudsim provides an efficient way to
create VMs and perform cloud operations in the java platform
[5]. The COS uses only two VM nodes. The simulation
environment will allow the computation of the local system to
get offloaded to the selected VM. The VMs are selected based
on the distance from the current VM.
The computer node used for experimentation runs
Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit operating system with Intel(R)
Core(TM) i3 CPU having 2.40 GHz speed and 4.00 GB RAM
capacity.

The computational logic performed on COS prototype is:

a) The sorting application which implements the logic of
Quick sort for sorting linear list of integer type values. b) The
Knapsack problem [8], in which a set of items (v) is given,
each with its weight (wi) and value (vi). Task is to find out the
number (xi) of each item in order to include it in a collection
Fig. 3. Comparison of Execution Time in milliseconds (ms)
such that the total weight (W) must remain less than or equal
to a given weight limit and also the total value/profit becomes
 2016 International Conference on Next Generation Intelligent Systems (ICNGIS)

Fig. 4. Comparison of CPU workload (in terms of %) Fig. 6. Comparison of Execution Time in milliseconds (ms)

Fig. 5. Comparison of Energy Consumption in Joules (J) Fig. 7. Comparison of CPU workload (in terms of %)

5.2 Knapsack Problem

The 10 items and maximum weight limit as 50 have been

taken in order to implement the Knapsack problem in the
experiment. The results obtained by running the given problem
locally and remotely using proposed COS are shown below. It
is observed that remote execution by COS method will takes
lesser execution time (fig. 6) for running heavy computations
as compared to when the heavy computation is executed
without using COS method. Also the proposed method
balances the computational load (fig. 7). Fig. 8 shows that
COS method is more energy efficient.

Fig. 8. Comparison of Energy Consumed in Joules (J)

 2016 International Conference on Next Generation Intelligent Systems (ICNGIS)
VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
This paper proposes an efficient scheme for offloading the
heavy computation from resource scarce device such as mobile
to the resource intensive environment such as cloud. The
proposed scheme uses only two VMs. The simulation is
conducted using Cloudsim. The quick sort and knapsack
problem are used in order to evaluate the proposed scheme. It
is observed that the proposed computation offloading scheme
improves the performance of the local device by removing
replicated data present within the computation to be performed
using Buffer Allocation Method. By offloading the
computation to the nearest VM from the current VM, the
performance of the device boosts further as less energy will be
consumed. The computational offloading takes less execution
time and also balance the load on the local device as shown by
the simulation results. In future, this scheme can be
implemented on multiple VMs and the load of each VM can
also be taken into consideration for further improvement.
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