Proximity-Aware VM Placement in Multi-Layer Fog Computing for Efficient Resource Management: Performance Evaluation Under a Gaming Application Scenario

Sreebha Bhaskaran; Supriya Muthuraman

doi:10.3390/computers15040225

journal article Open Access Apr 03, 2026

Proximity-Aware VM Placement in Multi-Layer Fog Computing for Efficient Resource Management: Performance Evaluation Under a Gaming Application Scenario

Sreebha Bhaskaran

Supriya Muthuraman

Computers Vol. 15 No. 4 pp. 225 · MDPI AG

View at Publisher Save 10.3390/computers15040225

Abstract

The rapid proliferation of mobile devices, particularly smartphones and tablets, has transformed digital entertainment, with mobile gaming emerging as one of the fastest-growing digital segments. Such applications are inherently latency-sensitive and require effective resource management and seamless mobility support. To overcome these issues, this paper suggests a four-layered infrastructure that combines edge, fog, and cloud computing with Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and is assisted by a lightweight proximity-aware heuristic placement strategy and mobility management. The suggested structure follows a microservices contained breakdown of the gaming functionality and uses clustering algorithms to permit coordinated access to resources by edge and fog nodes. A dynamic lightweight proximity-aware virtual machine placement algorithm is presented to deploy application modules nearer to the users depending on the availability and mobility of the resources. The proposed work is simulated using IFogSim2. The proposed model reduces the latency by up to 73 percent and the rate of task completion by 25 percent relative to baseline configurations in the case of dynamic mobility of users. These results indicate that the suggested strategy can be effective in improving the latency-sensitive mobile gaming applications performance in the edge-fog networks.

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Published: Apr 03, 2026
Vol/Issue: 15(4)
Pages: 225
License: View

Authors

S

Sreebha Bhaskaran

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Amrita School of Computing, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Bengaluru 560035, India

S

Supriya Muthuraman

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Amrita School of Computing, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Bengaluru 560035, India

Cite This Article

Sreebha Bhaskaran, Supriya Muthuraman (2026). Proximity-Aware VM Placement in Multi-Layer Fog Computing for Efficient Resource Management: Performance Evaluation Under a Gaming Application Scenario. Computers, 15(4), 225. https://doi.org/10.3390/computers15040225

Proximity-Aware VM Placement in Multi-Layer Fog Computing for Efficient Resource Management: Performance Evaluation Under a Gaming Application Scenario

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