Network availability and service continuity are major concerns for network operators to provide reliable communication services for Internet of Things (IoT), which are particularly challenging to achieve in virtualized network slicing environment where network services are exposed to the failure risks of both software (virtual network function (VNF) instances) and hardware (physical nodes). In general, the redundancy-based VNF backup solutions are used to improve the reliability of virtualized network slices. However, backup VNFs require the same amount of resources as the primary VNFs, which will result in high-resource cost. In this article, we propose a joint VNF partition and hybrid backup scheme for VNF orchestration, backup and mapping, whose aim is to construct the reliability-enhanced and delay-guaranteed network slices at minimum cost. Specifically, the VNF partition method divides a single VNF into multiple thinner VNFs with lower processing capacity and is expected to enhance the reliability of network slices with less additional resources. The hybrid backup scheme includes both onsite and offsite backup forms. Then, considering the time-varying network environment and IoT service requirements, we formulate the VNF orchestration, backup and mapping as a dynamic mixed integer linear programming (DMILP) problem, and model the dynamic problem as a Markov decision process (MDP). In view of the large action space of the formulated MDP, we propose a multiagent deep reinforcement learning (DRL) approach with an action space reduction strategy to achieve the dynamic VNF orchestration, backup and mapping solution. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed joint VNF partition and hybrid backup scheme can obtain superior delay and reliability performance with low-network cost.

An efficient Intrusion Detection System (IDS) model is essential for the protection of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) networks against network intrusion. However, when designing IDS models using distributed data collected by UAVs, it is crucial to ensure the security and privacy of the data. Moreover, most IDS models only focus on one-time learning and lack continuous learning capabilities. To address this, we present a Federated Continuous Learning framework with a Stacked Broad Learning System (FCL-SBLS) that utilizes Digital Twin Network (DTN) to enable quick and continuous learning on new data. To enhance the efficiency and quality of the IDS model during training and aggregation, we adopt an asynchronous federated learning architecture. Additionally, we introduce a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG)-based UAV selection scheme assisted by DTN to aid in global IDS model aggregation. This approach ensures that the IDS model can effectively and efficiently learn from distributed data while preserving the privacy and security of the data. The presented algorithm is validated using the CIC-IDS2017 dataset, and the simulation results reveal that our algorithm achieves higher efficiency and accuracy than the existing FL scheme.

Numerous resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices make the edge IoT consisting of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) vulnerable to network intrusion. Therefore, it is critical to design an effective intrusion detection system (IDS). However, the differences in local data sets among UAVs show small samples and uneven distribution, further reducing the detection accuracy of network intrusion. This article proposes a conditional generative adversarial net (CGAN)-based collaborative intrusion detection algorithm with blockchain-empowered distributed federated learning to solve the above problems. This study introduces long short-term memory (LSTM) into the CGAN training to improve the effect of generative networks. Based on the feature extraction ability of LSTM networks, the generated data with CGAN are used as augmented data and applied in the detection and classification of intrusion data. Distributed federated learning with differential privacy ensures data security and privacy and allows collaborative training of CGAN models using multiple distributed data sets. Blockchain stores and shares the training models to ensure security when the global model’s aggregation and updating. The proposed method has good generalization ability, which can greatly improve the detection of intrusion data.

The edge of the Internet of Things (IoT), which consists of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), is vulnerable to network intrusion because software and wireless connections are used extensively in the IoT. Designing an efficient intrusion detection system (IDS) model is imperative. However, when creating IDS models with distributed data collected by UAVs, it is necessary to take precautions to protect the data’s security and privacy. Furthermore, most of the IDS models are focused on one-time learning but not on continuous learning. To this end, we propose a federated continuous learning framework with a stacked broad learning system (FCL-SBLS) based on the digital twin network (DTN), which can learn and train the IDS model on new data quickly and continuously. In order to improve the efficiency and quality of the IDS model when training and aggregation, we employ an asynchronous federated learning (FL) architecture, and a deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG)-based UAV selection scheme assisted by DTN is proposed to help the global IDS model aggregation. The presented algorithm is validated using the CIC-IDS2017 data set, and the simulation results reveal that our algorithm achieves higher efficiency and accuracy than the existing FL scheme.

Network slicing (NS) provides customized services to users of the Internet of Things (IoT) by creating logical virtual networks, and NS combined with multiaccess edge computing (MEC) can significantly minimize the latency for delay-sensitive service. Therefore, it is important to research how to employ NS to achieve low latency for delay-sensitive service in MEC-enabled IoT. In this article, we propose a paradigm of dynamic cooperative slicing based on the digital twin network (DTN) to achieve low latency for delay-sensitive service. Specifically, we first build a DTN for the MEC-enabled IoT, and build basic models and function models, including prediction and decision making in DTN. Then, we realize dynamic cooperative slicing through the built basic models and function models. Second, with the assistance of the ubiquitous computing resources in MEC-enabled IoT based on DTN, we construct joint optimization problem of communication resources, computing resources, and collaboration proportion with the objective of ensuring low delay of delay-sensitive service while maximizing the long-term utility of operators. Third, considering that the different MEC servers participating in the cooperation in each time slot lead to different action spaces in different time slots, we propose a deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm with variable action space, called VADDPG, which draws on the idea of action masking and introduces the action adjustor to realize the hard control of action space. Finally, a large number of simulations demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the benchmark algorithms in terms of both the long-term utility of operators and the delay obtained by slicing.

As a three-layer association of Internet of Things Equipment (IoTE)–network slicing (NS)–base station (BS) in radio access network (RAN) slicing, handoff control, and resource allocation has become an important but complicated issue. In addition, the centralized controller has a difficult grasping the network situation in real time. In view of this, the problem of handoff control in the RAN slicing is investigated in the digital twin network (DTN), with the goal of maximizing the long-term utility about user satisfaction and handoff cost. Then, an improved algorithm based on the actor–critic framework is suggested, which is called HCRA. Specifically, the actor component contains neural networks for handoff control and an optimizer for resource allocation, and then the critic component evaluates the handoff and resource allocation actions of the actor component to guide the optimization of actions in the actor component. The simulation results show that HCRA can obtain better performance than benchmark algorithms.

Applications in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) are usually accompanied by ultralow network response latency requirement. A promising approach to meet this demand is combining the IoV with mobile edge computing and enabling edge devices to share their communication, computation, and caching (3C) resources via edge intelligent cooperation. However, the allocation of 3C resources supported by artificial intelligence (AI) demands a huge number of training data and strong computing ability which is impossible to achieve on resource-limited on board unit (OBU) or road side unit (RSU). In this article, we propose a digital twin (DT) supported edge intelligent cooperation scheme, which empowers the optimal 3C resource allocation and edge intelligent cooperation possible. We focus on the response delay minimization in order to meet the requirement of latency-sensitive applications in the IoV. Specifically, mathematical expressions of the network response time are formulated according to modeling the workflow of the edge server as an M/M/1/N/FCFS queuing process. Especially, we conduct a detailed analysis of the deviations in 3C resource between the physical world and the DT space, based on which we further discuss the impact of these deviations in offloading decision. Furthermore, a mathematical optimization model aiming at minimizing the latency is formulated. In view of its complexity, we apply a deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm to solve it by modeling the cooperation process between edge nodes as a Markov decision process. Finally, we carry out simulations to demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms the existing schemes in terms of network response latency.

In this paper, we propose a Digital Twin (DT) Supported Resource Allocation Scheme (DTS-RAS), which empowers the intelligent edge cooperation in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) environment possible. We focus on the latency minimization under the DT-IoV framework. Specifically, we formulate the mathematical expression for the response time of vehicle offloading tasks to cooperative edge nodes according to modeling the edge server as a M/M/1/N queen. Then, we construct the optimization model aiming at reducing the response time. In view of the complexity, we apply a Double Deep Q-learning Network (DDQN) to training the edge server to get an optimal allocation action by modeling the cooperation process as an MDP. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed scheme outperforms the existing schemes in terms of execution latency.

As the network slicing is one of the critical enablers in communication networks, one anomalous physical node (PN) in substrate networks that carries multiple virtual network elements can cause significant performance degradation of multiple network slices. To recover the substrate networks from anomaly within a short time, rapid and accurate identification of whether or not the anomaly exists in PNs is vital. Online anomaly detection methods that can analyze system data in real-time are preferred. Besides, as virtual nodes mapped to PNs are scattered in multiple slices, the distributed detection modes are required to preserve the data privacy of different slices. According to those requirements, we propose a distributed online PN anomaly detection algorithm based on a decentralized one-class support vector machine (OCSVM), which is realized through analyzing real-time measurements of virtual nodes mapped to PNs in a distributed manner. Specifically, to decouple the OCSVM objective function, we transform the original problem to a group of decentralized quadratic programming problems by introducing the consensus constraints. The alternating direction method of multipliers is adopted to achieve the solution for the distributed online PN anomaly detection. The simulation results on the real-world network dataset show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed distributed online anomaly detection algorithm.