A Two-Level Game-Theoretic Approach for Joint Pricing and Resource Allocation in Multi-user Mobile Edge Computing

Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) offers an efficient model to extend cloud computing capabilities to IoT devices and mobile users. This research paper focuses on multi-user MEC systems. It presents a two-level approach, with the upper level optimizing the allocation and pricing of computing resource by the Edge Server Provider (ESP), while the lower level handles offloading strategy, channel selection for the Device Manager (DM). However, the problem’s complexity, involving mixed variables, classifies it as NP-hard. To address this challenge, we formulate the computational offloading problem among DMs as a multi-user computational offloading game. Our analysis confirms the existence of Nash equilibriums and finite improvement properties. Based on this, we propose a two-tier distributed computational offloading algorithm that achieves Nash equilibrium. Experiments demonstrate its effectiveness in optimizing resource allocation and maximizing ESP and DM profits.