A generalized target-driven cache replacement policy for mobile environments

Caching frequently accessed data items on the client side is an effective technique to improve the system performance in wireless networks. Due to cache size limitations, cache replacement algorithms are used to find a suitable subset of items for eviction from the cache. Many existing cache replacement algorithms employ a value function of different factors such as time since last access, entry time of the item in the cache, transfer time, item expiration time and so on. However, most of the existing algorithms are designed for WWW environment under weak consistency model. Their choices of value functions are based on experience and on a value function which only works for a specific performance metric. In this paper, we propose a generalized value function for cache replacement algorithms for wireless networks under a strong consistency model. The distinctive feature of our value function is that it is generalized and can be used for various performance metrics by making the necessary changes. Further, we prove that the proposed value function can optimize the access cost in our system model. To demonstrate the practical effectiveness of the generalized value function, we derive two specific functions and evaluate them by setting up two different targets: minimizing the query delay and minimizing the downlink traffic. Compared to previous schemes, our algorithm significantly improves the performance in terms of query delay or in terms of bandwidth utilization depending on the specified target.