关键词： Mobile edge computing   task offloading   multiple features matching   two-stage federated learning   Mobile edge computing   task offloading   multiple features matching   two-stage federated learning  

摘要： Mobile edge computing provides relatively rich computation resources for Internet-of-Things (IoT) task offloading at the edge of networks. As time goes on, user tasks present diverse requirements in function, type, dependency, urgency, etc., which makes edge servers take on dynamically diversified service features to adapt to the requirements of user tasks. Moreover, cache has been studied a lot in recent years for reducing the execution cost of related or dependent tasks. However, jointly considering which result data required to be cached and where to cache is still an intractable problem in task offloading due to dynamically diversified and sensitive features of task and edge servers for prediction. To provide more comprehensive consideration, we propose a multiple features matching scheme, coupled with federated learning-assisted collaborative caching, to enhance the efficiency of task offloading. Specifically, we first build a common features of historical tasks based FI-tree to help search for an edge server that best matches the requested task features. This helps to obtain optimal task allocation and improve offloading performance. Further, the results of tasks related to or dependent on cached results can be obtained directly through the collaborative edge cache prediction model trained by two-stage federated learning. In this way, the amount of data executed for offloaded tasks is reduced, thereby speeding up the return of final results as well as reducing the delay and energy of task execution. Meanwhile, it avoids massive transmission of task results correlated data and also protects the privacy of these data when training the prediction model. Experimental results show that our proposed method outperforms the benchmark approaches through reducing the time delay and energy consumption by at least 15.6% and 18.2%.

关键词： Intelligent reflecting surface   Unmanned aerial vehicle   Mobile edge computing   UAV-mounted IRS   Wireless energy transfer  

摘要： Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) have been recently used in wireless- powered mobile edge computing (MEC) systems to enhance the computation bits and energy harvesting performance. However, in the conventional IRS- and UAV-aided MEC systems, the IRS is installed at fixed locations on a building, which restricts the computation performance. UAV-mounted IRS (UAV-IRS), as a promising technology, combines the advantages of UAV and IRS. Hence, in this work, we study a UAVIRS wireless-powered MEC system, where multiple UAV-IRSs are considered between Internet of Things (IoT) devices and the base station to improve the computation bits and energy harvesting. The multi-antenna base station first charges the IoT devices via radio frequency signals, and then IoT devices offload their computation tasks to the base station via UAV-IRSs. We formulate a computation bits maximization problem for all IoT devices by jointly determining detection beamforming at IoT devices, active energy beamforming at the base station, power allocation, time slot assignment, CPU frequency, the phase shifts design in the wireless energy transfer (WET) and task offloading, and UAV-IRSs positions. A block coordinate descent (BCD) algorithm by decomposing the introduced problem into four blocks is proposed, while the detection beamforming, active energy beamforming, transmit power, time slot assignment, CPU frequency, and the phase shifts design in the task offloading are derived in closed-form results. Also, the successive convex approximation and semidefinite relaxation (SDR) are adopted to obtain the UAV-IRS positions and the phase shifts in the WET, respectively. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the presented BCD method compared with the different benchmark schemes.

关键词： Internet of Remote Things   Task offloading   Energy-efficient communication   Mobile Edge Computing  

摘要： The Internet of Remote Things (IoRT) involves networks of devices deployed in extensive and often remote areas, collecting data for transmission and processing. In such networks, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) gather data, which is then sent to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites for processing. These systems often face significant challenges, particularly in task offloading. Conventional methods typically rely on static routing and scheduling algorithms that do not adapt to changing conditions and usually overlook the complexity of dynamic decision-making in harsh or isolated environments, thus failing to address the critical challenges of energy efficiency and latency. In this paper, we introduce a method comprised of a three-layer architecture. The first layer, the IoRT computing layer, uses Deep Q-Network (DQN) to optimize local decisions based on device constraints and task urgency. The second layer features UAVs serve as Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), which not only processes data but also decides whether to process tasks locally or offload them to LEO satellites, utilizing the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) for this decision-making process. The third LEO Satellite Layer has a high computational capacity to handle offloaded tasks. Simulation results demonstrate notable improvements: compared to another method, the proposed model shows a 14.73 % reduction in energy consumption and a 23.13 % decrease in latency while reducing execution costs by an average of 28.7 %.

关键词： Privacy   Task analysis   Entropy   Protection   Wireless communication   Delays   Cloud computing   Mobile edge computing   computation offloading   privacy protection   deep reinforcement learning  

摘要： The emergence of mobile edge computing (MEC) imposes an unprecedented pressure on privacy protection, although it helps the improvement of computation performance including energy consumption and computation delay by computation offloading. To this end, we concern about the privacy protection in the MEC system with a curious edge server. We present a deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-driven computation offloading strategy designed to concurrently optimize privacy protection and computation cost. We investigate the potential privacy breaches resulting from offloading patterns, propose an attack model of privacy theft, and correspondingly define an analytical measure to assess privacy protection levels. In pursuit of an ideal computation offloading approach, we propose an algorithm, SAC-PP, which integrates actor-critic, off-policy, and maximum entropy to improve the efficiency of learning processes. We explore the sensitivity of SAC-PP to hyperparameters and the results demonstrate its stability, which facilitates application and deployment in real environments. The relationship between privacy protection and computation cost is analyzed with different reward factors. Compared with benchmarks, the empirical results from simulations illustrate that the proposed computation offloading approach exhibits enhanced learning speed and overall performance.

关键词： Servers   Resource management   Costs   Energy consumption   Optimization   Mobile handsets   Delays   Computational modeling   Scheduling algorithms   Wireless communication   Mobile edge computing   energy consumption   computing cost   dependent task offloading   resource allocation  

摘要： Mobile edge computing (MEC) is a promising computing paradigm and can effectively reduce the energy consumption and computing costs at mobile devices by offloading computation-intensive and latency-sensitive applications/tasks to edge servers. However, how to achieve cost-effective dependent task offloading and resource allocation subject to application completion time constraint and service configuration constraint at edge side in heterogeneous MEC environments remains a challenge. To address this challenge, in this paper, we study the multi-application dependent task offloading and resource allocation problem in heterogeneous MEC environments for jointly minimizing the energy consumption and computing cost. We first formulate this problem as a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem. We propose a two-stage alternating optimization algorithm. In the first stage, a genetic-based algorithm is proposed to determine an optimized task offloading profile for given transmit power matrix, a look ahead based task scheduling algorithm is designed to obtain an optimized task schedule for the profile. In the second stage, the transmit power allocation problem for a given offloading profile is solved using convex optimization techniques. Extensive simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce the total cost of task executions as compared with baseline algorithms.

关键词： Mobile edge computing   Truthfulness   Energy consumption   Algorithm design   Polynomial time approximation scheme  

摘要： In the context of mobile edge computing (MEC), the delay-sensitive tasks can achieve real-time data processing and analysis by offloading to the MEC servers. The objective is maximizing social welfare in an auction- based model. However, the distances between mobile devices and access points lead to differences in energy consumption. Unfortunately, existing works have not considered both maximizing social welfare and minimizing energy consumption. Motivated by this, we address the problem of joint resource allocation and task offloading in MEC, with heterogeneous MEC servers providing multiple types of resources for mobile devices (MDs) to perform tasks remotely. We split the problem into two sub-problems: winner determination and offloading decision. The first sub-problem determines winners granted the ability to offload tasks to maximize social welfare. The second sub-problem determines how to offload tasks among the MEC servers to minimize energy consumption. In the winner determination problem, we propose a truthful algorithm that drives the system into equilibrium. We then show the approximate ratios for single and multiple MEC servers. In the offloading decision problem, we propose an approximation algorithm. We then show it is a polynomial- time approximation scheme for a single MEC server. Experiment results show that our proposed mechanism finds high-quality solutions in changing mobile environments.

关键词： Mobile edge computing   Cloud computing   Internet of things   Task offloading   African vultures optimization algorithm  

摘要： Mobile Cloud-Edge Collaboration (MCEC) views in the main of converting the site for user electronics. By naturally integrating mobile devices with cloud computing (CC) resources at the edge of the scheme, this mutual paradigm improves storage, processing, and communication capabilities. This cooperation increases the performance of user electronics, delivering users responsive and resource-efficient knowledge. Offloading in Mobile Cloud-Edge Collaboration (MCEC) is a strategic device that recovers computational efficiency and resource energy for mobile devices. By reasonably moving computation tasks from mobile devices to the edge or cloud servers, offloading declines the load on the limited processing and energy capabilities of mobile devices. This joint method influences the stable computing power and storage aptitude accessible in the cloud-edge structure, confirming that resource-intensive uses like complex data processing or machine learning (ML) tasks can be implemented professionally. Offloading not only increases the receptiveness and performance of mobile users but also contributes to energy conservation, extending the battery time of mobile devices. This study proposes an African Vultures Optimizer algorithm-based Offloading Strategy for Mobile Cloud-Edge Collaboration (AVOAOS-MCEC) approach for consumer electronics. The AVOAOS-MCEC technique is based on the nature of AVOA is a new nature-based system, which is inspired by the unusual behavior of African vultures in foraging and navigation. In addition, the AVOAOS-MCEC technique designs a task offloading process to reduce the total energy utilization with the fulfillment of capacity and delay requirements. The experimental validation of the AVOAOS-MCEC method is verified utilizing distinct measures. An extensive comparison study stated that the AVOAOS-MCEC technique outperforms the other models in terms of several performance measures.

关键词： Internet of things   Vehicular networks   Energy-efficient communications   Ultra-reliable low-latency communications   Mobile edge computing  

摘要： The integration of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies into the vehicular industry has initiated a new era of connected and autonomous vehicles, revolutionizing transportation systems. However, this transformation introduces significant challenges, especially in 5 G networks, such as achieving Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) and maintaining energy efficiency within the high mobility of vehicular environments. These are essential for supporting sustainable and environmentally friendly computing practices. To address these challenges, this paper introduces a URLLC-aware and energy-efficient data offloading strategy, utilizing the Asynchronous Advantage Actor-Critic (A3C) algorithm to navigate the complex dynamics of vehicular Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) environments. Our proposed method balances latency and energy consumption tradeoffs while ensuring robust communication reliability. Technical evaluations reveal that our approach significantly outperforms other algorithms, achieving up to 8.2 % energy savings and a reduction of over 29 % in latency.

关键词： Vehicle dynamics   Heuristic algorithms   Optimization   Servers   Real-time systems   Delays   Resource management   Dynamic scheduling   Computational modeling   Costs   Mobile edge computing   vehicular edge computing   combinatorial optimization   deep reinforcement learning   task offloading  

摘要： Vehicular Edge Computing (VEC) is an emerging computing paradigm that serves as a specific application of Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) in intelligent transportation systems. As a core technology of VEC, task offloading improves computing efficiency and service quality by offloading computing tasks from vehicular devices to edge nodes. However, the high mobility of vehicles, heterogeneity of resources, and real-time requirements present significant challenges for task offloading. To address the issue of reducing overall system latency and increasing the offloading success rate in multi-task offloading, we propose a task offloading scheme combining Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) and Kuhn-Munkres (KM) Matching algorithm, named the PDQKM offloading scheme. Firstly, to mitigate the delay caused by frequent Roadside Unit (RSU) handovers, we propose a method to detect whether a vehicle is within the coverage area of the RSU. This method filters out unreasonable offloading decisions, avoiding the overhead associated with frequent RSU handovers. Secondly, the combination of DRL and the KM matching algorithm leverages the strengths of both approaches. DRL provides initial offloading strategies in highly dynamic and high-dimensional decision environment. Although DRL may get stuck in local optima, it can quickly adapt to environmental changes. The KM matching algorithm, a classic solution for perfect task-resource matching, performs global optimization on the initial strategies provided by DRL. This integration overcomes the limitations that a single algorithm might have. Finally, to effectively coordinate and manage the heterogeneous resources of RSU, we utilize an improved KM matching algorithm to update computational resources in real time, enhancing matching efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate that PDQKM outperforms comparable offloading schemes in terms of overall system latency and offloading success rate optimization.

关键词： maximize profit   mobile edge computing   multi-agent algorithm   network slicing   online resource allocation   secure admission control  

摘要： The rapid evolution of user equipment (UE) and 5G networks drives significant transformations, bringing technology closer to end-users. Managing resources in densely crowded areas such as airports, train stations, and bus terminals poses challenges due to diverse user demands. Integrating mobile edge computing (MEC) and network function virtualization (NFV) becomes vital when the service provider's (SP) primary goal is maximizing profitability while maintaining service level agreement (SLA). Considering these challenges, our study addresses an online resource allocation problem in an MEC network where computing resources are limited, and the SP aims to boost profit by securely admitting more UE requests at each time slot. Each UE request arrival rate is unknown, and the requirement is specific resources with minimum cost and delay. The optimization problem objective is achieved by allocating resources to requests at the MEC network in appropriate cloudlets, utilizing abandoned instances, reutilizing idle and soft slice instances to shorten delay and reduce costs, and immediately scaling inappropriate instances, thus minimizing the instantiation of new instances. This paper proposes a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) method for request prediction and resource allocation to mitigate unnecessary resource waste. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach effectively accepts network slice requests to maximize profit by leveraging resource availability, reutilizing instantiated resources, and upholding goodwill and SLA. Through extensive simulations, we show that our proposed DRL-based approach outperforms other state-of-the-art techniques, namely, MaxSR, DQN, and DDPG, by 76%, 33%, and 23%, respectively. We propose a multi-agent deep reinforcement learning mechanism for end-to-end network slicing in mobile edge computing. Utilizing the advantage actor-critic method, it predicts future user arrivals, ensures resource availability, and optimizes resource al