On Using the Edge Application Server Discovery Function to Enforce Edge Computing in 5G Networks and Beyond

Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) is a key technology in the field of telecommunications and computing. It brings computing and storage resources closer to the edge of the network, typically at or near base stations and hence reduces the access latency of User Equipment (UE) to applications hosted at the edge. However, mobility of UEs brings challenging issues for service continuity and Service Level Agreement (SLA) fulfilment of 5G services. To solve these issues, 3GPP introduced a new Network Function (NF) called the Edge Application Server Discovery Function (EASDF) [1]. The latter aims to support session breakouts by dynamically resolving the Domain Name Service (DNS) of MEC applications to application servers closer to the UE's physical location. However, the 3GPP specifications [1] do not provide details about how the EASDF handles the UE's mobility. To fill this gap, we propose a novel design and implementation of the EASDF on the top of OpenAirInterface (OAI) open-source 5G network [2]. Simulation results show the efficiency of the EASDF in reducing the access latency during the UE's mobility with a small overhead of less than 4ms in high-load scenarios.