Reaching for the clouds: contextually enhancing smartphones for energy efficiency

Abstract

Energy efficiency has gradually become a compulsory need in mobile computing as the processing requirements for smartphones have increased exponentially. Moreover, the current demand is stretching beyond the extents of modern battery technology. In this sense, we introduce a novel collaboration solution for mobile devices based on a contextual search entitled Hybrid Contextual Cloud for Ubiquitous Platforms comprising of Smartphones (HYCCUPS). HYCCUPS takes advantage of the pervasive nature of smartphones and of current wireless communication technologies as to offer offloading execution of mobile applications in an opportunistic on-the-fly hybrid computing cloud. We design an adaptive contextual search algorithm for schedulling mobile code execution in smartphone communities based on predicting the availability and mobility of devices in the near vicinity. We emulate the HYCCUPS framework based on real user traces and we prove that it improves battery health, maximizes power save, minimizes overall execution time of mobile applications and it preserves or even enhances user experience.