Delay-Sensitive Multiplayer Augmented Reality Game Planning in Mobile Edge Computing

Abstract

Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) is essential for enabling new innovative technologies that depend on low-latency computation environments such as Augmented Reality (AR). As AR applications continue to deliver better graphics with richer interactive features, AR devices will increasingly rely on nearby cloudlets to assist with the demanding computation requirements of AR applications. Supporting multiplayer interactions in an MEC environment brings many challenges. Processing user interactions can be computation-intensive especially when multiple users in close proximity to each other are acting simultaneously; the limited resources of a cloudlet could be overwhelmed if there are too many players involved. In this paper, we envision a scenario in the near future where players wearing AR heads-up display devices engage with other players over a large area with densely deployed cloudlets. We first propose a novel system model, and then formulate the Decentralized Multiplayer Coordination (DMC) Problem with the aim of minimizing the game frame duration among players, and devise an efficient algorithm for the problem. We finally evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm through experimental simulations. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is promising.