Dynamic Content Placement for Mobile Content Distribution Networks

As wireless networks increase in popularity, the development of efficient content distribution techniques to meet the growing and constantly changing client demand becomes a necessity. Previous content distribution network proposals, targeting mainly wired networks, are not adequate to handle the high temporal and spatial variability in client demand caused by user mobility. This paper proposes and analyzes a wireless dynamic content distribution network framework that replicates content in response to changes in client demand in order to reduce the total traffic over the network backbone. We propose a mathematical programming model to determine the offline optimal solution as well as an online algorithm based on demand forecasting. Using a previously developed mobility simulator, we show our new online algorithm outperforms the traditional centralized and distributed static placement approaches, reducing the total traffic over the network backbone in up to 78%, compared to the best previous approach analyzed.