Large-Scale IoT Network Offloading to Cloud and Fog Computing: a Fluid Limit Model

Abstract

This paper models a large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) network as a stochastic system that offloads computing towards Fog and Cloud via a shared access medium. The analysis of this large IoT system by stochastic methods is a challenging problem, if possible, to solve. This paper proposes the approximation of the dynamic of the IoT network via the fluid limit of the stochastic process. This method allows the analysis of the large-scale system and also allows finding the equilibrium point of the system. The results obtained with stochastic simulations show that the fluid model is an excellent approximation of the stochastic system.