A Survey on Computing Offloading in Satellite-Terrestrial Integrated Edge Computing Networks

The satellite-terrestrial integrated networks can provide users with extensive coverage, high-performing transmission services. However, limited by the network resources and transmission costs, it cannot satisfy users' quality requirements for computing-intensive and delay-sensitive services. Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) is introduced to construct the satellite-terrestrial integrated edge computing networks. In this way, the computational pressure in the core network can be reduced, and the response speed and processing capacity of the satellite-terrestrial integrated networks can be improved significantly. To this end, several kinds of satellite-terrestrial integrated edge computing network architectures are presented based on the deployment location of edge servers and the cooperation between edge servers and cloud servers. Secondly, aiming at the computing offloading in the satellite-terrestrial integrated edge computing networks, the computing offloading mechanisms enabled by delay, delay-energy consumption, energy consumption and joint resource allocation are respectively described. Then, the applicable application scenarios of the satellite-terrestrial integrated edge computing networks are described, including service shunting, Quality of Experience (QoE) improvement and disaster relief. Finally, the research challenges of computing offloading in the satellite-terrestrial integrated networks are discussed.