Air-Ground Collaborative Mobile Edge Computing:Architecture,Challenges,and Opportunities

By pushing computation,cache,and network control to the edge,mobile edge computing(MEC)is expected to play a leading role in fifth generation(5G)and future sixth generation(6G).Nevertheless,facing ubiquitous fast-growing computational demands,it is impossible for a single MEC paradigm to effectively support high-quality intelligent services at end user equipments(UEs).To address this issue,we propose an air-ground collaborative MEC(AGCMEC)architecture in this article.The proposed AGCMEC integrates all potentially available MEC servers within air and ground in the envisioned 6G,by a variety of collaborative ways to provide computation services at their best for UEs.Firstly,we introduce the AGC-MEC architecture and elaborate three typical use cases.Then,we discuss four main challenges in the AGC-MEC as well as their potential solutions.Next,we conduct a case study of collaborative service placement for AGC-MEC to validate the effectiveness of the proposed collaborative service placement strategy.Finally,we highlight several potential research directions of the AGC-MEC.

Anti-Byzantine Attacks Enabled Vehicle Selection for Asynchronous Federated Learning in Vehicular Edge Computing

In vehicle edge computing(VEC),asynchronous federated learning(AFL)is used,where the edge receives a local model and updates the global model,effectively reducing the global aggregation latency.Due to different amounts of local data,computing capabilities and locations of the vehicles,renewing the global model with same weight is inappropriate.The above factors will affect the local calculation time and upload time of the local model,and the vehicle may also be affected by Byzantine attacks,leading to the deterioration of the vehicle data.However,based on deep reinforcement learning(DRL),we can consider these factors comprehensively to eliminate vehicles with poor performance as much as possible and exclude vehicles that have suffered Byzantine attacks before AFL.At the same time,when aggregating AFL,we can focus on those vehicles with better performance to improve the accuracy and safety of the system.In this paper,we proposed a vehicle selection scheme based on DRL in VEC.In this scheme,vehicle’s mobility,channel conditions with temporal variations,computational resources with temporal variations,different data amount,transmission channel status of vehicles as well as Byzantine attacks were taken into account.Simulation results show that the proposed scheme effectively improves the safety and accuracy of the global model.

IRS Assisted UAV Communications against Proactive Eavesdropping in Mobile Edge Computing Networks

In this paper,we consider mobile edge computing(MEC)networks against proactive eavesdropping.To maximize the transmission rate,IRS assisted UAV communications are applied.We take the joint design of the trajectory of UAV,the transmitting beamforming of users,and the phase shift matrix of IRS.The original problem is strong non-convex and difficult to solve.We first propose two basic modes of the proactive eavesdropper,and obtain the closed-form solution for the boundary conditions of the two modes.Then we transform the original problem into an equivalent one and propose an alternating optimization(AO)based method to obtain a local optimal solution.The convergence of the algorithm is illustrated by numerical results.Further,we propose a zero forcing(ZF)based method as sub-optimal solution,and the simulation section shows that the proposed two schemes could obtain better performance compared with traditional schemes.

Security Implications of Edge Computing in Cloud Networks

Security issues in cloud networks and edge computing have become very common. This research focuses on analyzing such issues and developing the best solutions. A detailed literature review has been conducted in this regard. The findings have shown that many challenges are linked to edge computing, such as privacy concerns, security breaches, high costs, low efficiency, etc. Therefore, there is a need to implement proper security measures to overcome these issues. Using emerging trends, like machine learning, encryption, artificial intelligence, real-time monitoring, etc., can help mitigate security issues. They can also develop a secure and safe future in cloud computing. It was concluded that the security implications of edge computing can easily be covered with the help of new technologies and techniques.

GCAGA: A Gini Coefficient-Based Optimization Strategy for Computation Offloading in Multi-User-Multi-Edge MEC System

To support the explosive growth of Information and Communications Technology(ICT),Mobile Edge Comput-ing(MEC)provides users with low latency and high bandwidth service by offloading computational tasks to the network’s edge.However,resource-constrained mobile devices still suffer from a capacity mismatch when faced with latency-sensitive and compute-intensive emerging applications.To address the difficulty of running computationally intensive applications on resource-constrained clients,a model of the computation offloading problem in a network consisting of multiple mobile users and edge cloud servers is studied in this paper.Then a user benefit function EoU(Experience of Users)is proposed jointly considering energy consumption and time delay.The EoU maximization problem is decomposed into two steps,i.e.,resource allocation and offloading decision.The offloading decision is usually given by heuristic algorithms which are often faced with the challenge of slow convergence and poor stability.Thus,a combined offloading algorithm,i.e.,a Gini coefficient-based adaptive genetic algorithm(GCAGA),is proposed to alleviate the dilemma.The proposed algorithm optimizes the offloading decision by maximizing EoU and accelerates the convergence with the Gini coefficient.The simulation compares the proposed algorithm with the genetic algorithm(GA)and adaptive genetic algorithm(AGA).Experiment results show that the Gini coefficient and the adaptive heuristic operators can accelerate the convergence speed,and the proposed algorithm performs better in terms of convergence while obtaining higher EoU.The simulation code of the proposed algorithm is available:https://github.com/Grox888/Mobile_Edge_Computing/tree/GCAGA.

A review on edge analytics:Issues,challenges,opportunities,promises,future directions,and applications

Edge technology aims to bring cloud resources(specifically,the computation,storage,and network)to the closed proximity of the edge devices,i.e.,smart devices where the data are produced and consumed.Embedding computing and application in edge devices lead to emerging of two new concepts in edge technology:edge computing and edge analytics.Edge analytics uses some techniques or algorithms to analyse the data generated by the edge devices.With the emerging of edge analytics,the edge devices have become a complete set.Currently,edge analytics is unable to provide full support to the analytic techniques.The edge devices cannot execute advanced and sophisticated analytic algorithms following various constraints such as limited power supply,small memory size,limited resources,etc.This article aims to provide a detailed discussion on edge analytics.The key contributions of the paper are as follows-a clear explanation to distinguish between the three concepts of edge technology:edge devices,edge computing,and edge analytics,along with their issues.In addition,the article discusses the implementation of edge analytics to solve many problems and applications in various areas such as retail,agriculture,industry,and healthcare.Moreover,the research papers of the state-of-the-art edge analytics are rigorously reviewed in this article to explore the existing issues,emerging challenges,research opportunities and their directions,and applications.

Optimized Binary Neural Networks for Road Anomaly Detection:A TinyML Approach on Edge Devices

Integrating Tiny Machine Learning(TinyML)with edge computing in remotely sensed images enhances the capabilities of road anomaly detection on a broader level.Constrained devices efficiently implement a Binary Neural Network(BNN)for road feature extraction,utilizing quantization and compression through a pruning strategy.The modifications resulted in a 28-fold decrease in memory usage and a 25%enhancement in inference speed while only experiencing a 2.5%decrease in accuracy.It showcases its superiority over conventional detection algorithms in different road image scenarios.Although constrained by computer resources and training datasets,our results indicate opportunities for future research,demonstrating that quantization and focused optimization can significantly improve machine learning models’accuracy and operational efficiency.ARM Cortex-M0 gives practical feasibility and substantial benefits while deploying our optimized BNN model on this low-power device:Advanced machine learning in edge computing.The analysis work delves into the educational significance of TinyML and its essential function in analyzing road networks using remote sensing,suggesting ways to improve smart city frameworks in road network assessment,traffic management,and autonomous vehicle navigation systems by emphasizing the importance of new technologies for maintaining and safeguarding road networks.

For Mega-Constellations: Edge Computing and Safety Management Based on Blockchain Technology

In mega-constellation Communication Systems, efficient routing algorithms and data transmission technologies are employed to ensure fast and reliable data transfer. However, the limited computational resources of satellites necessitate the use of edge computing to enhance secure communication.While edge computing reduces the burden on cloud computing, it introduces security and reliability challenges in open satellite communication channels. To address these challenges, we propose a blockchain architecture specifically designed for edge computing in mega-constellation communication systems. This architecture narrows down the consensus scope of the blockchain to meet the requirements of edge computing while ensuring comprehensive log storage across the network. Additionally, we introduce a reputation management mechanism for nodes within the blockchain, evaluating their trustworthiness, workload, and efficiency. Nodes with higher reputation scores are selected to participate in tasks and are appropriately incentivized. Simulation results demonstrate that our approach achieves a task result reliability of 95% while improving computational speed.

Redundant Data Detection and Deletion to Meet Privacy Protection Requirements in Blockchain-Based Edge Computing Environment

With the rapid development of information technology,IoT devices play a huge role in physiological health data detection.The exponential growth of medical data requires us to reasonably allocate storage space for cloud servers and edge nodes.The storage capacity of edge nodes close to users is limited.We should store hotspot data in edge nodes as much as possible,so as to ensure response timeliness and access hit rate;However,the current scheme cannot guarantee that every sub-message in a complete data stored by the edge node meets the requirements of hot data;How to complete the detection and deletion of redundant data in edge nodes under the premise of protecting user privacy and data dynamic integrity has become a challenging problem.Our paper proposes a redundant data detection method that meets the privacy protection requirements.By scanning the cipher text,it is determined whether each sub-message of the data in the edge node meets the requirements of the hot data.It has the same effect as zero-knowledge proof,and it will not reveal the privacy of users.In addition,for redundant sub-data that does not meet the requirements of hot data,our paper proposes a redundant data deletion scheme that meets the dynamic integrity of the data.We use Content Extraction Signature(CES)to generate the remaining hot data signature after the redundant data is deleted.The feasibility of the scheme is proved through safety analysis and efficiency analysis.

Distributed Matching Theory-Based Task Re-Allocating for Heterogeneous Multi-UAV Edge Computing

Many efforts have been devoted to efficient task scheduling in Multi-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)edge computing.However,the heterogeneity of UAV computation resource,and the task re-allocating between UAVs have not been fully considered yet.Moreover,most existing works neglect the fact that a task can only be executed on the UAV equipped with its desired service function(SF).In this backdrop,this paper formulates the task scheduling problem as a multi-objective task scheduling problem,which aims at maximizing the task execution success ratio while minimizing the average weighted sum of all tasks’completion time and energy consumption.Optimizing three coupled goals in a realtime manner with the dynamic arrival of tasks hinders us from adopting existing methods,like machine learning-based solutions that require a long training time and tremendous pre-knowledge about the task arrival process,or heuristic-based ones that usually incur a long decision-making time.To tackle this problem in a distributed manner,we establish a matching theory framework,in which three conflicting goals are treated as the preferences of tasks,SFs and UAVs.Then,a Distributed Matching Theory-based Re-allocating(DiMaToRe)algorithm is put forward.We formally proved that a stable matching can be achieved by our proposal.Extensive simulation results show that Di Ma To Re algorithm outperforms benchmark algorithms under diverse parameter settings and has good robustness.

Cost-Efficient Edge Caching for NOMA-Enabled IoT Services

Mobile edge computing(MEC)is a promising paradigm by deploying edge servers(nodes)with computation and storage capacity close to IoT devices.Content Providers can cache data in edge servers and provide services for IoT devices,which effectively reduces the delay for acquiring data.With the increasing number of IoT devices requesting for services,the spectrum resources are generally limited.In order to effectively meet the challenge of limited spectrum resources,the Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access(NOMA)is proposed to improve the transmission efficiency.In this paper,we consider the caching scenario in a NOMA-enabled MEC system.All the devices compete for the limited resources and tend to minimize their own cost.We formulate the caching problem,and the goal is to minimize the delay cost for each individual device subject to resource constraints.We reformulate the optimization as a non-cooperative game model.We prove the existence of Nash equilibrium(NE)solution in the game model.Then,we design the Game-based Cost-Efficient Edge Caching Algorithm(GCECA)to solve the problem.The effectiveness of our GCECA algorithm is validated by both parameter analysis and comparison experiments.

SCIRD: Revealing Infection of Malicious Software in Edge Computing-Enabled IoT Networks

The Internet of Things(IoT)has characteristics such as node mobility,node heterogeneity,link heterogeneity,and topology heterogeneity.In the face of the IoT characteristics and the explosive growth of IoT nodes,which brings about large-scale data processing requirements,edge computing architecture has become an emerging network architecture to support IoT applications due to its ability to provide powerful computing capabilities and good service functions.However,the defense mechanism of Edge Computing-enabled IoT Nodes(ECIoTNs)is still weak due to their limited resources,so that they are susceptible to malicious software spread,which can compromise data confidentiality and network service availability.Facing this situation,we put forward an epidemiology-based susceptible-curb-infectious-removed-dead(SCIRD)model.Then,we analyze the dynamics of ECIoTNs with different infection levels under different initial conditions to obtain the dynamic differential equations.Additionally,we establish the presence of equilibrium states in the SCIRD model.Furthermore,we conduct an analysis of the model’s stability and examine the conditions under which malicious software will either spread or disappear within Edge Computing-enabled IoT(ECIoT)networks.Lastly,we validate the efficacy and superiority of the SCIRD model through MATLAB simulations.These research findings offer a theoretical foundation for suppressing the propagation of malicious software in ECIoT networks.The experimental results indicate that the theoretical SCIRD model has instructive significance,deeply revealing the principles of malicious software propagation in ECIoT networks.This study solves a challenging security problem of ECIoT networks by determining the malicious software propagation threshold,which lays the foundation for buildingmore secure and reliable ECIoT networks.

Secure Computation Efficiency Resource Allocation for Massive MIMO-Enabled Mobile Edge Computing Networks

In this article,the secure computation efficiency(SCE)problem is studied in a massive multipleinput multiple-output(mMIMO)-assisted mobile edge computing(MEC)network.We first derive the secure transmission rate based on the mMIMO under imperfect channel state information.Based on this,the SCE maximization problem is formulated by jointly optimizing the local computation frequency,the offloading time,the downloading time,the users and the base station transmit power.Due to its difficulty to directly solve the formulated problem,we first transform the fractional objective function into the subtractive form one via the dinkelbach method.Next,the original problem is transformed into a convex one by applying the successive convex approximation technique,and an iteration algorithm is proposed to obtain the solutions.Finally,the stimulations are conducted to show that the performance of the proposed schemes is superior to that of the other schemes.

A digital twins enabled underwater intelligent internet vehicle path planning system via reinforcement learning and edge computing

The Autonomous Underwater Glider(AUG)is a kind of prevailing underwater intelligent internet vehicle and occupies a dominant position in industrial applications,in which path planning is an essential problem.Due to the complexity and variability of the ocean,accurate environment modeling and flexible path planning algorithms are pivotal challenges.The traditional models mainly utilize mathematical functions,which are not complete and reliable.Most existing path planning algorithms depend on the environment and lack flexibility.To overcome these challenges,we propose a path planning system for underwater intelligent internet vehicles.It applies digital twins and sensor data to map the real ocean environment to a virtual digital space,which provides a comprehensive and reliable environment for path simulation.We design a value-based reinforcement learning path planning algorithm and explore the optimal network structure parameters.The path simulation is controlled by a closed-loop model integrated into the terminal vehicle through edge computing.The integration of state input enriches the learning of neural networks and helps to improve generalization and flexibility.The task-related reward function promotes the rapid convergence of the training.The experimental results prove that our reinforcement learning based path planning algorithm has great flexibility and can effectively adapt to a variety of different ocean conditions.

Proactive Caching at the Wireless Edge:A Novel Predictive User Popularity-Aware Approach

Mobile Edge Computing(MEC)is a promising technology that provides on-demand computing and efficient storage services as close to end users as possible.In an MEC environment,servers are deployed closer to mobile terminals to exploit storage infrastructure,improve content delivery efficiency,and enhance user experience.However,due to the limited capacity of edge servers,it remains a significant challenge to meet the changing,time-varying,and customized needs for highly diversified content of users.Recently,techniques for caching content at the edge are becoming popular for addressing the above challenges.It is capable of filling the communication gap between the users and content providers while relieving pressure on remote cloud servers.However,existing static caching strategies are still inefficient in handling the dynamics of the time-varying popularity of content and meeting users’demands for highly diversified entity data.To address this challenge,we introduce a novel method for content caching over MEC,i.e.,PRIME.It synthesizes a content popularity prediction model,which takes users’stay time and their request traces as inputs,and a deep reinforcement learning model for yielding dynamic caching schedules.Experimental results demonstrate that PRIME,when tested upon the MovieLens 1M dataset for user request patterns and the Shanghai Telecom dataset for user mobility,outperforms its peers in terms of cache hit rates,transmission latency,and system cost.

Joint Task Allocation and Resource Optimization for Blockchain Enabled Collaborative Edge Computing

Collaborative edge computing is a promising direction to handle the computation intensive tasks in B5G wireless networks.However,edge computing servers(ECSs)from different operators may not trust each other,and thus the incentives for collaboration cannot be guaranteed.In this paper,we propose a consortium blockchain enabled collaborative edge computing framework,where users can offload computing tasks to ECSs from different operators.To minimize the total delay of users,we formulate a joint task offloading and resource optimization problem,under the constraint of the computing capability of each ECS.We apply the Tammer decomposition method and heuristic optimization algorithms to obtain the optimal solution.Finally,we propose a reputation based node selection approach to facilitate the consensus process,and also consider a completion time based primary node selection to avoid monopolization of certain edge node and enhance the security of the blockchain.Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm,and the total delay can be reduced by up to 40%compared with the non-cooperative case.

IoT Task Offloading in Edge Computing Using Non-Cooperative Game Theory for Healthcare Systems

In this paper,we present a comprehensive system model for Industrial Internet of Things(IIoT)networks empowered by Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access(NOMA)and Mobile Edge Computing(MEC)technologies.The network comprises essential components such as base stations,edge servers,and numerous IIoT devices characterized by limited energy and computing capacities.The central challenge addressed is the optimization of resource allocation and task distribution while adhering to stringent queueing delay constraints and minimizing overall energy consumption.The system operates in discrete time slots and employs a quasi-static approach,with a specific focus on the complexities of task partitioning and the management of constrained resources within the IIoT context.This study makes valuable contributions to the field by enhancing the understanding of resourceefficient management and task allocation,particularly relevant in real-time industrial applications.Experimental results indicate that our proposed algorithmsignificantly outperforms existing approaches,reducing queue backlog by 45.32% and 17.25% compared to SMRA and ACRA while achieving a 27.31% and 74.12% improvement in Qn O.Moreover,the algorithmeffectively balances complexity and network performance,as demonstratedwhen reducing the number of devices in each group(Ng)from 200 to 50,resulting in a 97.21% reduction in complexity with only a 7.35% increase in energy consumption.This research offers a practical solution for optimizing IIoT networks in real-time industrial settings.

Deployment of Edge Computing Nodes in IoT:Effective Implementation of Simulated Annealing Method Based on User Location

Edge computing paradigm for 5G architecture has been considered as one of the most effective ways to realize low latency and highly reliable communication,which brings computing tasks and network resources to the edge of network.The deployment of edge computing nodes is a key factor affecting the service performance of edge computing systems.In this paper,we propose a method for deploying edge computing nodes based on user location.Through the combination of Simulation of Urban Mobility(SUMO)and Network Simulator-3(NS-3),a simulation platform is built to generate data of hotspot areas in Io T scenario.By effectively using the data generated by the communication between users in Io T scenario,the location area of the user terminal can be obtained.On this basis,the deployment problem is expressed as a mixed integer linear problem,which can be solved by Simulated Annealing(SA)method.The analysis of the results shows that,compared with the traditional method,the proposed method has faster convergence speed and better performance.

Reinforcement learning based edge computing in B5G

The development of communication technology will promote the application of Internet of Things,and Beyond 5G will become a new technology promoter.At the same time,Beyond 5G will become one of the important supports for the development of edge computing technology.This paper proposes a communication task allocation algorithm based on deep reinforcement learning for vehicle-to-pedestrian communication scenarios in edge computing.Through trial and error learning of agent,the optimal spectrum and power can be determined for transmission without global information,so as to balance the communication between vehicle-to-pedestrian and vehicle-to-infrastructure.The results show that the agent can effectively improve vehicle-to-infrastructure communication rate as well as meeting the delay constraints on the vehicle-to-pedestrian link.

Resource management at the network edge for federated learning

Federated learning has been explored as a promising solution for training machine learning models at the network edge,without sharing private user data.With limited resources at the edge,new solutions must be developed to leverage the software and hardware resources as the existing solutions did not focus on resource management for network edge,specially for federated learning.In this paper,we describe the recent work on resource manage-ment at the edge and explore the challenges and future directions to allow the execution of federated learning at the edge.Problems such as the discovery of resources,deployment,load balancing,migration,and energy effi-ciency are discussed in the paper.