Optimal mobile device selection for round-robin data exchange via adaptive multi-criteria decision analysis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compeleceng.2016.01.018Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We provide a mobile device selection approach for round-robin data exchange.

  • When a data exchange round is finished, an adaptive function is carried out to adjust the criteria evaluation in order to obtain a more adaptive ranking order of candidate mobile devices for the next round.

  • As a built-in system mechanism, it requires no user intervention.

Abstract

In recent years, exchanging data has become far easier with the rapidly growing popularity and increased mobility of mobile devices. However, data exchange between mobile devices is performed as a peer-to-peer communication. Each mobile device that serves as a candidate has a whole range of hardware statuses which may influence data exchange performance. Thus, the selection of a mobile device with sufficient computing resources to facilitate round-robin data exchange is an interesting process worth exploring. This study proposes an optimal mobile device selection approach for round-robin data exchange via the monitoring of the hardware status of each candidate device's system profile. A case study demonstrates the proposed approach, step by step. The experimental results show that the proposed approach can be used to improve round-robin data exchange performance. The contribution of this study is to provide an approach which selects an optimal candidate mobile device for round-robin data exchange in a local wireless communication network.

Introduction

As information and communication technology has evolved, data exchange has always been an essential and important process. People exchange signals, messages, or data files with each other. The relatively recent emergence of mobile devices has changed our life-style in general. People using mobile devices such as smartphones or tablet computers are constantly creating data. The popularity and mobility of mobile devices have made the exchange of data more convenient [1]. The traditional limitations of mobile devices (e.g., low computing power, limited memory and storage space, or insufficient battery life) have been mitigated with the advent of cloud computing, remote storage, and application services. Various built-in data transmission mechanisms (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and Near Field Communication [NFC]) also facilitate the easy exchange of data between mobile devices. However, in a local wireless communication network, data exchange between mobile devices is performed as a peer-to-peer communication [2]. Each mobile device is considered as a candidate, and each has a different hardware status (e.g., central processing unit [CPU] loading, memory usage, storage space, battery life, Wi-Fi signal strength, etc.) which may affect the performance of the data exchange. The selection of a reasonable mobile device with sufficient computing resources to facilitate round-robin data exchange is an interesting process worth exploring.

Real-world problems are typically hard to resolve because uniquely optimal solutions do not exist, so the condition and relevant status of the decision-maker are used to differentiate between solutions. In this study, we focus on the mobile device's system profile which indicates the status of a variety of factors, any or all of which may influence the data exchange performance between mobile devices. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) [3] is one approach to solving multi-dimensional problems. MDCA can support decision making by resolving problems encountered when selecting between various candidates. To enhance MCDA effectiveness in a round-robin data exchange scenario, an adaptive mechanism is employed to store previous rounds’ results, to evaluate the current context status, and to adaptively adjust parameters for the next selection round. Status item are the criteria which are evaluated via the multi-criteria decision analysis method to rank the candidates in order. The ranking order supports the decision-making process for selecting a reasonable candidate.

To date, mobile operating systems have yet to include a built-in, automatic optimal selection mechanism to assist data exchange between devices. Users are therefore required to carry out a device-by-device selection process for each round of data exchange. However, because hardware statuses vary among mobile device systems, evaluating user selection time is an NP problem, and it depends on user preferences or considerations. This study proposes an optimal mobile device selection approach for round-robin data exchange via the monitoring of the hardware status of each mobile device's system profile. The approach can be implemented as a built-in system mechanism that does not require user intervention. At the completion of each data exchange round, an adaptive function adjusts the criteria evaluation in order to obtain a more adaptive ranking order of candidate mobile devices for the next round. The contribution of this study is to provide an approach which is easily implemented in a mobile device and can always select the optimal candidate device during a round-robin data exchange in a local wireless communication network.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces related studies. Section 3 presents a new approach for round-robin data exchange over a mobile wireless communication network. A case study is detailed in Section 4, and the experiments and a relevant discussion are contained in Section 5. Finally, Section 6 presents our conclusions.

Section snippets

Related works

This section contains a review of related literature, including studies on mobile data exchange and multi-criteria decision-making.

Optimal mobile device selection approach for round-robin data exchange

This section describes an approach for the selection of mobile devices in terms of adaptive multi-criteria decision analysis, including mobile device profile formalization, a relational utility model [25], [26], selection order discovery via a modified ELECTRE method [22], [23], [24], and an adaptive mechanism for round-robin data exchange.

The procedure of the proposed approach is shown in Fig. 1. At the start of a round for a round-robin data exchange, mobile devices in a local wireless

Case study

Based on the experiments of previous studies, the current study extends the functionality of mobile service with the proposed implementation of an optimal mobile device selection approach. This section presents a case study detailing the steps of that approach.

Experiments and relevant discussion

Current mobile operating systems do not yet have a built-in automatic optimal selection mechanism to facilitate the exchange of data between mobile devices in a local wireless communication network. Users must therefore perform a device-by-device selection process for each round of data exchange. This study proposed an optimal mobile device selection approach which monitors the hardware status of the mobile device system profile in order to facilitate round-robin data exchange. The approach can

Conclusion

The contribution of this study is to provide an optimal mobile device selection approach for round-robin data exchange in a local wireless network. This approach is based on monitoring the hardware status in the system profile of each candidate mobile device. Hardware status was found to have a significant influence on data transmission time between mobile devices in different rounds. Based on the experimental results, the proposed approach can be used to improve the data transmission time of

Acknowledgment

This research was supported in part by the National Science Council of Taiwan (Republic of China) with Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Grants 103-2221-E-025-010 and 102-2410-H-025-017.

Young-Long Chen received the M.S. degree in engineering science from National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, in 1995 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan, in 2007. His research interests include wireless and mobile communications and networks, wireless sensor networks, information security, digital signal processing, fuzzy neural networks and embedded systems.

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    Young-Long Chen received the M.S. degree in engineering science from National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, in 1995 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan, in 2007. His research interests include wireless and mobile communications and networks, wireless sensor networks, information security, digital signal processing, fuzzy neural networks and embedded systems.

    Chih-Kun Ke received the Ph.D. degree in Institute of Information Management, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, in 2006. He is currently an associate professor in Department of Information Management at National Taichung University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. His research interests include knowledge discovery in database, intelligent information system, knowledge support system, mobile application and cloud service development.

    Reviews processed and recommended for publication to the Editor-in-Chief by Guest Editor Dr. T-H Meen.

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