A–ESD: Auxiliary Edge-Server Deployment for Load Balancing in Mobile Edge Computing

Abstract

In recent years, the deployment of edge servers has attracted significant research interest, with a focus on maximizing their utilization under resource constraint to improve overall efficiency. However, most existing studies concentrate on initial deployment strategies, paying limited attention to approaches involving incremental expansion. As user demands continue to escalate, many edge systems are facing overload situations that hinder their ability to meet performance requirements. To tackle these challenges, this paper introduces an auxiliary edge-server deployment strategy designed to achieve load balancing across edge systems and alleviate local server overloads. The problem is herein referred to as the Auxiliary Edge Server Deployment (A–ESD) problem, and the aim is to determine the optimal deployment scheme for auxiliary edge servers. A–ESD is modeled as a multi-objective optimization problem subject to global constraints and is demonstrated to be NP-hard. An enhanced genetic algorithm called LBA–GA is proposed to efficiently solve the A–ESD problem. The algorithm is designed to maximize overall load balance while minimizing total system delay. Extensive experiments conducted on real-world datasets demonstrate that LBA–GA outperforms existing methods, delivering superior load balancing, reduced latency, and higher cost-effectiveness.