Service caching in mobile edge computing (MEC) networks involves pre-storing computation programs on MEC servers to efficiently handle users’ computational tasks. By pre-loading these programs, service caching can significantly reduce both computation and transmission delays, addressing the diverse computational requirements of users. However, optimal caching placement is essential due to limited caching capacity, which directly impacts the efficiency of computation offloading. Proper cache placement ensures that relevant programs are readily available, thereby maximizing offloading performance and minimizing delays. This paper investigates a multi-tier MEC network consisting of caching-enabled edge servers, a cloud server, and multiple users. Users offload computational tasks to proximate edge servers, where locally cached programs facilitate immediate processing, thereby mitigating delays. When programs are absent from the cache, tasks are offloaded to the cloud, leading to additional latency. We formulate an optimization problem to minimize the overall communication and computation delay by jointly optimizing caching placement, transmission power, bandwidth allocation, and computation capacity. To tackle the complexity of this mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem, we propose two novel algorithms. The first is a Dinkelbach and big-M-based algorithm that reformulates the problem into a mixed-integer second-order cone programming (MI-SOCP) problem, approximating a near-optimal solution. Recognizing the computational demands of MI-SOCP, we also develop a low-complexity algorithm based on successive convex approximation (SCA) and alternating methods, which efficiently yields a high-quality sub-optimal solution. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms in reducing network delays and emphasize the critical role of caching in improving network performance.

Ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) is a critical type of service that imposes stringent latency requirements. Considering the random and burst URLLC packets arrival characteristics, incorporating spatial frequency reuse into multi-cell networks can significantly improve the system performance. Nevertheless, how to design the frequency refuse strategy for such a multi-cell URLLC system remains technically challenging. In this article, we investigate an online dynamic resource scheduling problem in a multi-cell downlink system with URLLC services. The long-term time-averaged effective throughput is maximized while guaranteeing the instantaneous transmission reliability and prolonged network stability. The formulated problem is a mixed integer nonlinear stochastic optimization problem, in which the Lyapunov optimization is first leveraged to transform the long-term maximization problem into sequential short-term online ones. To tackle the deterministic problem in each time-slot, we further propose a distributed algorithm that delegates computational processes to corresponding base stations for collaborative execution. In this framework, the user association is abstracted as a cooperative game model. Subsequently, each base station exploits alternating optimization and convex optimization approximation algorithms to address the remaining resource allocation problem. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in throughput-backlog trade-off, showcasing that the multi-cell collaborative transmission can attain better performance compared with existing schemes.

This paper investigates the joint optimal allocation of radio and computational resources aiming to minimize global average task offloading age (TOA) over all time slots and mobile devices (MDs) for long-term multi-cell MEC systems with continuous arrival of MDs. TOA represents the total number of offloading time slots, including both transmission and computation. The joint resource allocation problem cannot be solved online because its objective function is long-term average of TOA over all time slots. We transform the long-term resource allocation problem into an online one by the Lyapunov method, then an iterative algorithm is proposed to solve the online problem. The idea of this algorithm is computing iteratively the two sub-problems which optimize sub-channel allocation and offloading power and computational resources joint allocation based on an initial resource allocation scheme. The alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) method is employed to solve the first sub-problem. For the second sub-problem, a closed-form expression of optimal power is deduced by solving a convex optimization problem using the Lagrange multiplier method, then the sub-problem is simplified into a linear programming (LP) problem about computational resource allocation. The improved iterative greedy (IIG) algorithm is applied to solve the LP problem. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm approaches the performance of the optimal branch-and-bound (BnB) algorithm in the MEC systems with one-time arrival of MDs, and outperforms two benchmark schemes such as first in first out (FIFO) and Chang’s algorithm.

Mobile edge computing (MEC) in the next generation networks will provide computation services at the network edge to enrich the capabilities of mobile devices and lengthen their battery lives. However, the performance of MEC cannot be guaranteed, when large size local tasks are uploaded to the server simultaneously causing network congestion. As a new paradigm that focuses on transmitting the meaning of messages, semantic communications reveals the significant potential to reduce the network traffic. In this paper, we propose a semantic-aware joint communication and computation resource allocation framework for MEC systems. In the considered system, random tasks arrive at each terminal device (TD), which needs to be computed locally or offloaded to the MEC server. To further release the transmission burden, each TD sends the small-size extracted semantic information of tasks to the server instead of the original large-size raw data. An optimization problem of joint semantic-aware division factor, communication and computation resource management is formulated. The problem aims to minimize the energy consumption of the whole system, while satisfying long-term delay and processing rate constraints. To solve this problem, an online low-complexity algorithm is proposed. In particular, Lyapunov optimization is utilized to decompose the original coupled long-term problem into a series of decoupled deterministic problems without requiring the realizations of future task arrivals and channel gains. Then, the block coordinate descent method and successive convex approximation algorithm are adopted to solve the current time slot deterministic problem by observing the current system states. Moreover, the closed-form optimal solution of each optimization variable is provided. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm yields up to 41.8% energy reduction compared to its counterpart without semantic-aware allocation.

With the dramatic increase in the diverse service requirements and mobile devices, the application-specific data tends to span multiple consecutive timeslots to complete the transmission, while the demand for spectrum resources is further exacerbated. Recent works have suggested that integrating spatial frequency reuse with multi-cell networks can enhance the spectral efficiency and alleviate the scarcity of spectrum. Hence this paper considers a downlink multi-cell multi-timeslot orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) cellular system where the users keep downloading data from the base stations (BS) until reaching a predetermined cache size. Specifically, we aim to minimize the transmission delay by jointly optimizing the BS selection, subcarrier assignment, and transmit power allocation, taking into account the current cache size. Due to inter-cell interference and multi-timeslot coupling, this problem is challenging to solve directly. We prove that this problem can be transformed into sequential online sum rate maximization subproblems under causal channel state information (CSI). To solve the subproblems, we first develop a centralized dynamic resource allocation algorithm based on the parameter transformation and the majorization-minimization (MM). In view of the trade-off between performance and complexity, we further propose a distributed algorithm by a designed BS selection scheme and the MM approach. Simulation results demonstrate that the distributed algorithm achieves comparable performance to the centralized algorithm, while they both outperform the benchmark schemes in terms of transmission delay.

This paper investigates the lower bounds on the location estimation error for multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs)-aided millimeter-wave (mmWave) positioning systems. The error lower bound is quantified by Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLB), of which two are decisive, namely, the position error bound (PEB), and the rotation error bound (REB). This paper begins by deriving the analytical expressions of the PEB and REB as functions of the RIS phase shifts. Then, the lowest achievable PEB and REB are obtained by optimizing the phase shifts of all RISs using the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Numerical results have shown that a three-RIS-aided system generates 38.6% lower PEB and REB with the most basic beam-alignment phase shifts strategy compared to the single-RIS system. With the RIS phase shifts optimized by the PSO algorithm, the PEB and REB can be further reduced by another 41.2%.

In this article, we investigate the energy minimization problem of an unmanned-aerial-vehicle (UAV)-assisted data collection sensor network. We jointly optimize the trajectory of the UAV and the power consumption of the sensors for data uploading with the power and energy constraints of sensors. The trajectory design consists of two parts: 1) the serving orders for sensors and 2) the UAV’s hovering positions, where the latter is highly coupled with the power consumption of the sensors. To find the optimal serving orders of sensors, we formulate the problem as a standard traveling salesman problem (TSP), which can be optimally solved by the efficient Cutting-Plane method. To solve the UAV position and sensor uploading power optimization problem, we propose the PSPSCA algorithm that optimizes the transmit power by the pattern search method, while the UAV’s hovering positions are optimized by the successive-convex-approximation (SCA) method in the inner loop. To deal with the high computational complexity of the PSPSCA algorithm, we analyze the analytical relationship between optimal sensor uploading power and the UAV’s hovering positions, based on which we simplify the optimization problem and propose the AQSCA algorithm as an alternative approach. Simulation results have validated that the proposed algorithm outperforms the existing benchmark schemes.

In this paper, the optimization of the system energy efficiency (EE) is studied for a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) assisted full-deplex (FD) communication system. In the studied model, two devices communicate with each other using one RIS under the FD mode. Each of the devices will receive not only the message from the other device but also the self-interference. The main problem of this work is to maximize EE by jointly optimizing the reflection coefficients matrix and the transmit power of devices. To solve this problem, a nonlinear fractional programming based algorithm is used to transform the fractional optimization problem into a subtractive problem. Then the transmit power and the RIS phase shifts matrix are optimized by an iterative method. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve up to 200% gain in terms of EE compared to a conventional RIS assisted half-duplex mode.

This paper analyzes the ergodic capacity of a user-centric virtual cell (VC) dense network, where multiple access points (APs) form a VC for each user equipment (UE) and transmit data cooperatively over millimeter wave (mmWave) channels. Different from traditional microwave radio communications, blockage phenomena have an important effect on mmWave transmissions. Accordingly, we adopt a distance-dependent line- of-sight (LOS) probability function and model the locations of the LOS and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) APs as two independent non-homogeneous Poisson point processes (PPP). Invoking this model in a VC dense network, new expressions are derived for the downlink ergodic capacity, accounting for: blockage, small-scale fading and AP cooperation. In particular, we compare the ergodic capacity for different types of fading distributions, including Rayleigh and Nakagami. Numerical results validate our analytical expressions and show that AP cooperation can provide notable capacity gain, especially in low- AP-density regions.

Full‐duplex relay‐assisted device‐to‐device (D2D) communication underlaying fifth generation cellular networks allow devices to exchange information directly and extend coverage via relay strategy. In this study, the authors consider such a scenario, where the D2D communications assisted by fixed‐location full‐duplex relays in interference existing circumstance. Different from previous works, they assume that there are two types of users, cellular users and D2D users. They investigate power control problem and coverage probability performance in the previously assumed situation. Therefore, an effective power control scheme is of great importance to suppress interference between D2D and cellular communications, which can improve the total system throughput and spectral efficiency. To describe it, they formulate a power control optimisation problem for cellular communication and propose a simple on–off power control algorithm for D2D communication. They also obtain an analytic expression for the coverage probability of the cellular link using stochastic geometry according to the proposed algorithm. Simulation results follow to show the rates of both cellular and D2D links in the various numbers of D2D transceivers.