Fundamental Limits on Latency in Transceiver Cache-Aided HetNets

TL;DR

This paper investigates the fundamental limits of latency in cache-assisted heterogeneous networks, providing a theoretical characterization of delivery latency and identifying when caching improves performance.

Contribution

It introduces an information-theoretic metric for latency, derives bounds on this metric, and characterizes the conditions under which caching reduces latency in HetNets.

Findings

Exact bounds on delivery time per bit (DTB) as a function of cache size and channel parameters.

Identification of channel regimes where caching is beneficial or non-beneficial.

Complete characterization of DTB optimality in the studied HetNet model.

Abstract

Stringent mobile usage characteristics force wire- less networks to undergo a paradigm shift from conventional connection-centric to content-centric deployment. With respect to 5G, caching and heterogeneous networks (HetNet) are key technologies that will facilitate the evolution of highly content- centric networks by facilitating unified quality of service in terms of low-latency communication. In this paper, we study the impact of transceiver caching on the latency for a HetNet consisting of a single user, a receiver and one cache-assisted transceiver. We define an information-theoretic metric, the delivery time per bit (DTB), that captures the delivery latency. We establish coinciding lower and upper bounds on the DTB as a function of cache size and wireless channel parameters; thus, enabling a complete characterization of the DTB optimality of the network under study. As a result, we identify cache beneficial and non-beneficial channel regimes.