A Fog-Cloud Approach to Enhance Communication in a Distance Learning Cloud Based System

Abstract

IT infrastructures have changed to cloud computing since this model allows omnipresent and on-demand access to share computing resources. Such resources can be quickly provisioned and released with minimal management effort. However, cloud computing has been challenged to be scalable as regards the infrastructure of the systems. These challenges are reinforced in distance-learning environments where cloud infrastructure is adopted, and the supporting off-campus units, located in precarious regions, suffer for poor infrastructure. Consequently, fog-cloud models have emerged to improve application performance using local prepossessing of data and analysis of communication requirements. The present study envisages the solution of a problem in a Brazilian university that offers distance education. A low cost technological solution is proposed using the Fog-Cloud computing paradigm. In order to evaluate the proposal, an experiment using real data was carried out and the results obtained point to viability of the proposal.