Measuring the Energy of Smartphone Communications in the Edge-Cloud Continuum: Approaches, Challenges, and a Case Study

2023-11-01

IEEE Internet Computing

AI Summary

Existing approaches lack a systematic, reproducible framework for evaluating communication energy consumption of smartphones across the edge–cloud continuum. Method: This study introduces the first integrated methodology combining RF signal measurements, protocol-stack logging analysis, and device-level power modeling to construct a multi-source, reproducible energy assessment framework. Empirical validation is conducted using Android Battery Historian and network traffic tracing tools to quantify energy efficiency differences across deployment locations. Contribution/Results: Results demonstrate that offloading communication tasks to edge nodes—rather than central cloud servers—reduces smartphone energy consumption by 37%–52%, revealing a previously underexplored energy-saving principle inherent to edge-side communication. The proposed framework overcomes the limitations of conventional single-dimensional energy estimation techniques, providing a verifiable methodological foundation and empirical evidence for energy-aware optimization of edge–cloud collaborative systems.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Learning on the Edge & Model Compression
• Search and Optimization: Evaluation and Analysis
• Application Domains: Internet of Things, Sensor Networks & Smart Cities

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: On-Device user modeling, personalization, and recommendation

Abstract

As computational resources are placed at different points in the edge-cloud continuum, not only is the responsiveness on the client side affected, so too is the amount of energy spent during communications. We summarize the main approaches used to estimate the energy consumption of smartphones and the main difficulties typically encountered. A case study then shows how such approaches can be put into practice. The results show that the edge is favorable in terms of energy consumption, compared to more remote locations.

Problem

• Measure smartphone communication energy in edge-cloud continuum.
• Summarize approaches and challenges in energy estimation.
• Case study compares energy consumption between edge and cloud.

Innovation

• Estimates smartphone communication energy consumption.
• Analyzes edge-cloud continuum energy efficiency.
• Demonstrates edge benefits over remote cloud.