Joint Communication and Offloading Strategy of CoMP UAV-Assisted MEC Networks
Yan Li, Zhaozhi Yi, Deke Guo, Lailong Luo, Bangbang Ren, Qianzhen Zhang
Abstract
As mobile device usage and data traffic increase, the demand for faster data processing becomes crucial. Mobile edge computing (MEC) meets this need by placing servers at the network’s edge for real-time computing. However, fixed terrestrial MEC servers struggle with scalability, limiting their effectiveness. Integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with MEC technology offers a promising solution, enhancing communication efficiency and service quality. This paper proposes a joint communication and computation offloading model for coordinated multi-point (CoMP) UAV-assisted MEC networks utilizing hexagonal cell partitioning. Within each cell, a cluster of UAVs, each equipped with its own MEC server and connected to a central server via a reliable backhaul, collaborates to serve terrestrial user equipment. To analyze this system, we develop a unified analytical framework integrating stochastic geometry and queuing theory. Furthermore, we define the success probability of edge computing (SPEC) metric to quantitatively evaluate communication reliability and computational efficiency. Finally, we explore the effects of critical parameters on network performance. Simulation results closely match the theoretical predictions, confirming our proposed model’s validity and our analysis’s accuracy. Notably, our proposed model demonstrates an improvement in SPEC of approximately 57.24% over non-CoMP model and 24.97% over the user-centric CoMP model.