A Survey of Mobile Computation Offloading: Applications, Approaches and Challenges

The widespread acceptability of mobile devices in present times have led to the rise of applications which are progressively more affluent in terms of functionalities they offer to mobile users. Such applications might be very popular among users but their implementation may result in squandering many of the device end resources. Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) has a solution to this problem by means of Mobile Computation Offloading. MCO, as it is commonly addressed offloads selective parts of an application to the cloud. At a glance, one might find computation offloading very promising when it comes to conserving device end resources but eventually, it may turn out to be the other way round if performed in a static manner. Recurrent modifications in device end resources and computing environment variables might cause a decline in the efficiency of offloading mechanisms and even result in tumbling quality of service for applications dealing with real-time information. Issues such as security and privacy still continue to possess a challenge towards current offloading mechanisms. In this work of ours, we present a critical analysis of various offloading techniques and mechanisms based upon parameters of performance augmentation, energy conservation and security and privacy aspects.