Incremental Information-Aware Heuristics for Task Offloading in Mobile Edge Computing

Incremental Information-Aware Heuristics for Task Offloading in Mobile Edge Computing | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Incremental Information-Aware Heuristics for Task Offloading in Mobile Edge Computing Fabio Henrique Silva, José Ferreira de Rezende, Fabio David This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8310927/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Task offloading in Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) involves a fundamental trade-off between some network parameters. Exact optimization can compute the optimal makespan for a given network snapshot, but is computationally prohibitive for dynamic environments. This work proposes and evaluates incremental heuristics that operate with different levels of information, ranging from strictly local decisions to cooperative strategies across multiple base stations in real-time execution time, and investigates how information granularity affects offloading performance under uncertainty. A structured experimental campaign was conducted, with results compared against the optimal makespan. The study demonstrates that the effectiveness of each heuristic depends on the interplay between link quality, load distribution, and available network information, suggesting opportunities for adaptive offloading mechanisms that dynamically select the most suitable strategy. Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) Task Offloading Heuristics Makespan Minimization Scheduling Base Station Cooperation Optimization Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 22 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 22 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 19 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 02 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 10 Dec, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 09 Dec, 2025 First submitted to journal 08 Dec, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8310927","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":584391241,"identity":"3cdb621f-09b2-4c30-9380-a4a19ef1814c","order_by":0,"name":"Fabio Henrique Silva","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAxUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBAC9gYeNhAtByIOPCBGC88BiBZjsJYEUrQkNoBI4rSwnz324OOOe+nzww4/BNpiJ6fbQEgLT1664cwzxbkbb6cZALUkG5sdIKDFniHHTJq3LSF34+wEkJYDidsIaeHhf2Mm/bctId1wdvoHIrVIAG1hbEtIkJfOIdYWiXdpkr1tCYYbpHMKDiQYEOEXHv7cYxI/2xLk5Wenb/7wocJOjqAWODAAqzQgVjkIyDeQonoUjIJRMApGFAAAXWJDiJaZzaIAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Federal University of Rio de Janeiro","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fabio","middleName":"Henrique","lastName":"Silva","suffix":""},{"id":584391242,"identity":"3b8ee667-4b6b-41b7-ba8b-906d7376dadd","order_by":1,"name":"José Ferreira de Rezende","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Federal University of Rio de Janeiro","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"José","middleName":"Ferreira","lastName":"de Rezende","suffix":""},{"id":584391243,"identity":"c391a14a-120b-4047-84cb-9edf339f5579","order_by":2,"name":"Fabio David","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Federal University of Rio de Janeiro","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fabio","middleName":"","lastName":"David","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-08 20:38:13","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8310927/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8310927/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101881467,"identity":"5004728b-2ad9-43e5-adc1-65bea411057e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-04 15:12:20","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1073640,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"IncrementalInformationAwareHeuristicsforTaskOffloadinginMobileEdgeComputing.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8310927/v1_covered_a0043555-0096-4882-845c-8b4c84f382d5.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Incremental Information-Aware Heuristics for Task Offloading in Mobile Edge Computing","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-cloud-computing","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"clco","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Cloud Computing](http://journalofcloudcomputing.springeropen.com)","snPcode":"13677","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/13677/3","title":"Journal of Cloud Computing","twitterHandle":"@SpringerOpen","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC/SO AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), Task Offloading, Heuristics, Makespan Minimization, Scheduling, Base Station Cooperation, Optimization","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8310927/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8310927/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Task offloading in Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) involves a fundamental trade-off between some network parameters. 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