Modeling and Analysis of the Local Delay in an MEC-Based VANET for an Urban Area

This article studies the local delay modeling and analysis in a mobile edge computing (MEC) based vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) for an urban scenario where vehicle nodes request for computing services from an edge node. Based on stochastic geometry, theoretical local delay models are derived for uplink transmission of a service request and downlink transmission of a computing result, respectively. In deriving the theoretical models, the road distribution of an urban area is modeled as a Poisson line process (PLP), the spatial distribution of vehicle nodes on each street are modeled as an independent one-dimensional homogeneous Poisson point process (PPP), and edge nodes are deployed along each street with a certain probability. Moreover, a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) mechanism is considered for channel access, and independent Nakagami-m fading is considered over all wireless links. Based on the derived models, the impacts of major parameters on the local delay are investigated through numerical results. The derived local delay models can be used to help parameter settings in the deployment of edge nodes in an urban area.