Ricerc@Sapienza

The 5G revolution is radically changing the concept of telecommunication networks, since it aims to integrate a plethora of new services (e.g., Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, etc.) with very different requirements on the same network infrastructure. A key technology enabler to realize 5G is Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC), whose aim is to bring low-latency cloud functionalities closer to the end-users, i.e., at the network edge. The long-term objective of 5G is to deliver ubiquitous mobile virtual services, where the edge cloud will become a truly pervasive computing system providing ''zero'' latency services. However, this vision is challenged by the large heterogeneity of users requests over space and time, and the inherent limits of having a fixed network/cloud infrastructure. The main goal of this project is then to foster the evolution of 5G systems towards a three-dimensional service coverage, where pervasive radio and cloud services will be delivered to mobile users on demand by extending 5G networks with radio access points and MEC hosts placed on aerial platforms, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, High Altitude Platform Station and low Earth orbit satellites. This makes possible to deliver MEC services when and where needed, providing an effective way to handle delay-sensitive computing requests that are highly varying across space and time, without the burden associated to a fixed infrastructure. To achieve this ambitious goal, we will design a joint energy-aware orchestration of C3 (computation, communication, caching) resources and flight navigation and control, with the goal of ensuring, wherever possible, the desired computing services for a sufficiently long-time interval, with guaranteed end-to-end service delay and energy/battery constraints. Finally, the project's approach will be simulated in realistic application scenarios (i.e., 5G use cases) to validate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.