CADEC: A Combinatorial Auction for Dynamic Distributed DNN Inference Scheduling in Edge-Cloud Networks

Deep Neural Network (DNN) Inference, as a key enabler of intelligent applications, is often computation-intensive and latency-sensitive. Combining the advantages of cloud computing (abundant computing resources) and edge computing (fast transmission), edge-cloud collaborative DNN inference is a powerful solution to these problems. However, in edge-cloud networks with heterogeneous resources, how to obtain reasonable decisions on server selection, model partition and resource allocation for efficient distributed DNN inference is a hard challenge. Furthermore, it is non-trivial to design suitable resource prices to maximize the social welfare. These challenges even escalate in dynamic edge-cloud networks where decisions should be generated as soon as each user arrives without future information. Therefore, we design a combinatorial auction for dynamic distributed DNN inference scheduling, named CADEC. CADEC first constructs a bid set for each user based on convex optimization theory for optimal solution searching. Next, prices of resources in the edge-cloud network are adjusted according to changes in supply-demand relationship, and whether to admit the request of each user is decided. Finally, the dynamic distributed inference scheduling decisions are generated through the primal-dual algorithm to maximize the social welfare. Theoretical analysis shows the good competitive ratio and polynomial time complexity of CADEC. Results of simulation experiments present that CADEC improves social welfare by up to 224% compared with state-of-the-art distributed DNN inference schemes.