A Survey of Multi-Access Edge Computing in 5G and Beyond: Fundamentals, Technology Integration, and State-of-the-Art

TLDR

5G networks are expected to face unprecedented traffic and computation demands, yet end users have limited resources; mobile edge computing (MEC) addresses this by hosting compute‑intensive applications close to users, enabling real‑time services such as driverless vehicles, AR, and robotics, though its deployment remains in early stages. This survey offers a comprehensive overview of MEC technology, its use cases, and integration with emerging 5G technologies, while summarizing lessons learned, challenges, and future research directions. The authors review current research on MEC integration, summarize testbeds, experimental evaluations, and open‑source initiatives, and highlight how MEC supports real‑time applications through proximity to the radio access network. Key findings include the identification of lessons learned from state‑of‑the‑art studies, recognition of challenges such as resource constraints and security, and proposals for future research to mature MEC in 5G and beyond.

Abstract

Driven by the emergence of new compute-intensive applications and the vision of the Internet of Things (IoT), it is foreseen that the emerging 5G network will face an unprecedented increase in traffic volume and computation demands. However, end users mostly have limited storage capacities and finite processing capabilities, thus how to run compute-intensive applications on resource-constrained users has recently become a natural concern. Mobile edge computing (MEC), a key technology in the emerging fifth generation (5G) network, can optimize mobile resources by hosting compute-intensive applications, process large data before sending to the cloud, provide the cloud-computing capabilities within the radio access network (RAN) in close proximity to mobile users, and offer context-aware services with the help of RAN information. Therefore, MEC enables a wide variety of applications, where the real-time response is strictly required, e.g., driverless vehicles, augmented reality, robotics, and immerse media. Indeed, the paradigm shift from 4G to 5G could become a reality with the advent of new technological concepts. The successful realization of MEC in the 5G network is still in its infancy and demands for constant efforts from both academic and industry communities. In this survey, we first provide a holistic overview of MEC technology and its potential use cases and applications. Then, we outline up-to-date researches on the integration of MEC with the new technologies that will be deployed in 5G and beyond. We also summarize testbeds and experimental evaluations, and open source activities, for edge computing. We further summarize lessons learned from state-of-the-art research works as well as discuss challenges and potential future directions for MEC research.