Mobility as a Service (MaaS): A D2D-Based Information Centric Network Architecture for Edge-Controlled Content Distribution

It has been envisaged that in future 5G networks user devices will become an integral part by participating in the transmission of mobile content traffic typically through device-to-device (D2D) technologies. In this context, we promote the concept of mobility as a service, where content-aware mobile network edge is equipped with necessary knowledge on device mobility in order to distribute popular mobile content items to interested clients via a small number of helper devices. Toward this end, we present a device-level information centric networking architecture that is able to perform intelligent content distribution operations according to necessary context information on mobile user mobility and content characteristics. Based on such a platform, we further introduce device-level online content caching and offline helper selection algorithms in order to optimize the overall system efficiency. In particular, this paper sheds distinct light on the importance of user mobility data analytics based on which helper selection can lead to overall system optimality. Based on representative user mobility models, we conducted realistic simulation experiments and modeling which have proven the efficiency in terms of both network traffic offloading gains and user-oriented performance improvements. In addition, we show how the framework can be flexibly configured to meet specific delay tolerance constraints according to specific context policies.