Volatile MAB-based Configuration Selection for Offloading Video Analytics Tasks to Edges

The demand for video analytics is increasing rapidly. Due to the limited computational and network resources on edge servers, adjusting video configurations such as resolution and frame rate has become an effective strategy to reduce computational and transmission costs. However, this can also compromise detection accuracy, necessitating a balance between resource consumption and analytics accuracy. Also, the dynamic availability of edge servers and variability in their energy consumption further complicates making offloading decisions and configuration selection. In this paper, we first model the problem as a mixed planning program. Then we propose a volatile MAB-based configuration selection algorithm, VACS, which aims to maximize video analytics accuracy while reducing the overall energy consumption. Rigorous proof measures the gap between online decisions and the optimum. Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of VACS.