Real options for mobile communication management

Mobile computing devices have become pervasive in modern life. They provide applications that greatly enhance user activities, especially when several devices are used cooperatively. This communication, however, must be carefully orchestrated to make effective use of available network resources. In this work, we present a principled way for a mobile node to determine if and when it is cost-effective to offload computation to a remote server. This approach is based on the framework of Real Options, which provides well-understood optimization methods that are fundamentally extensible, being able to accommodate a great number of restrictions and utility models. We validate our design on a simulated wireless system under changing network conditions and limited battery life.