In-vehicle edge computing is a much anticipated paradigm to serve ever-increasing computation demands originated from the ego vehicle, such as passenger entertainments. In this paper, we explore the unique idea of crowdsourcing passing-by vehicles to augment computing of the ego vehicle. The challenges lie in the high dynamics of passing-by vehicles, time-correlated task computation, and the stringent requirement of computing reliability for individual user tasks. To this end, we formulate an optimization problem to minimize the end-to-end latency by optimizing the task assignment and resource allocation of user tasks. To address the complex problem, we propose a new algorithm (named CAVE) with multiple key designs. First, we reformulate the original problem into two subproblems while incorporating not only incoming but also in-progress tasks. Second, we solve the task assignment subproblem with reliability constraints by using particle swarm optimization with the adaptive barrier function. Third, we solve the resource allocation subproblem by deriving the optimal allocation with Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) condition. We build an end-to-end network and compute simulator and conduct extensive simulation to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Simulation results show that, our CAVE algorithm reduces more than 15% end-to-end latency than state-of-the-art solutions, without degrading the reliability performance.

Federated learning (FL) is the promising privacy-preserve approach to continually update the central machine learning (ML) model (e.g., object detectors in edge servers) by aggregating the gradients obtained from local observation data in distributed connected and automated vehicles (CAVs). The incentive mechanism is to incentivize individual selfish CAVs to participate in FL towards the improvement of overall model accuracy. It is, however, challenging to design the incentive mechanism, due to the complex correlation between the overall model accuracy and unknown incentive sensitivity of CAVs, especially under the non-independent and identically distributed (Non-IID) data of individual CAVs. In this paper, we propose a new learn-to-incentivize algorithm to adaptively allocate rewards to individual CAVs under unknown sensitivity functions. First, we gradually learn the unknown sensitivity function of individual CAVs with accumulative observations, by using compute-efficient Gaussian process regression (GPR). Second, we iteratively update the reward allocation to individual CAVs with new sampled gradients, derived from GPR. Third, we project the updated reward allocations to comply with the total budget. We evaluate the performance of extensive simulations, where the simulation parameters are obtained from realistic profiling of the CIFAR-10 dataset and NVIDIA RTX 3080 GPU. The results show that our proposed algorithm substantially outperforms existing solutions, in terms of accuracy, scalability, and adaptability.

Network slicing is a key technique in 5G and beyond for efficiently supporting diverse services. Many network slicing solutions rely on deep learning to manage complex and high-dimensional resource allocation problems. However, deep learning models suffer limited generalization and adaptability to dynamic slicing configurations. In this paper, we propose a novel frame-work that integrates constrained optimization methods and deep learning models, resulting in strong generalization and superior approximation capability. Based on the proposed framework, we design a new neural-assisted algorithm to allocate radio resources to slices to maximize the network utility under inter-slice resource constraints. The algorithm exhibits high scalability, accommodating varying numbers of slices and slice configurations with ease. We implement the proposed solution in a system-level network simulator and evaluate its performance extensively by comparing it to state-of-the-art solutions including deep reinforcement learning approaches. The numerical results show that our solution obtains near-optimal quality-of-service satisfaction and promising generalization performance under different network slicing scenarios.

Crowdsourcing data from connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) is a cost-efficient way to achieve high-definition maps with up-to-date transient road information. Achieving the map with deterministic latency performance is, however, challenging due to the unpredictable resource competition and distributional resource demands. In this paper, we propose CoMap, a new crowdsourcing high definition (HD) map to minimize the monetary cost of network resource usage while satisfying the percentile requirement of end-to-end latency. We design a novel CROP algorithm to learn the resource demands of CAV offloading, optimize offloading decisions, and proactively allocate temporal network resources in a fully distributed manner. In particular, we create a prediction model to estimate the uncertainty of resource demands based on Bayesian neural networks and develop a utilization balancing scheme to resolve the imbalanced resource utilization in individual infrastructures. We evaluate the performance of CoMap with extensive simulations in an automotive edge computing network simulator. The results show that CoMap reduces up to 80.4% average resource usage as compared to existing solutions.

Automating configuration is the key path to achieving zero-touch network management in ever-complicating mobile networks. Deep learning techniques show great potential to automatically learn and tackle high-dimensional networking problems. The vulnerability of deep learning to deviated input space, however, raises increasing deployment concerns under unpredictable variabilities and simulation-to-reality discrepancy in real-world networks. In this paper, we propose a novel RoNet framework to improve the robustness of neural-assisted configuration policies. We formulate the network configuration problem to maximize performance efficiency when serving diverse user applications. We design three integrated stages with novel normal training, learn-to-attack, and robust defense method for balancing the robustness and performance of policies. We evaluate RoNet via the NS-3 simulator extensively and the simulation results show that RoNet outperforms existing solutions in terms of robustness, adaptability, and scalability.

Cooperative perception is the key approach to augment the perception of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) toward safe autonomous driving. However, it is challenging to achieve real-time perception sharing for hundreds of CAVs in large-scale deployment scenarios. In this paper, we propose AdaMap, a new high-scalable real-time cooperative perception system, which achieves assured percentile end-to-end latency under time-varying network dynamics. To achieve AdaMap, we design a tightly coupled data plane and control plane. In the data plane, we design a new hybrid localization module to dynamically switch between object detection and tracking, and a novel point cloud representation module to adaptively compress and reconstruct the point cloud of detected objects. In the control plane, we design a new graph-based object selection method to un-select excessive multi-viewed point clouds of objects, and a novel approximated gradient descent algorithm to optimize the representation of point clouds. We implement AdaMap on an emulation platform, including realistic vehicle and server computation and a simulated 5G network, under a 150-CAV trace collected from the CARLA simulator. The evaluation results show that, AdaMap reduces up to 49x average transmission data size at the cost of 0.37 reconstruction loss, as compared to state-of-the-art solutions, which verifies its high scalability, adaptability, and computation efficiency.

Network slicing achieves cost-efficient slice customization to support heterogeneous applications and services. Configuring cross-domain resources to end-to-end slices based on service-level agreements, however, is challenging, due to the complicated underlying correlations and the simulation-to-reality discrepancy between simulators and real networks. In this paper, we propose Atlas, an online network slicing system, which automates the service configuration of slices via safe and sample-efficient learn-to-configure approaches in three interrelated stages. First, we design a learning-based simulator to reduce the sim-to-real discrepancy, which is accomplished by a new parameter searching method based on Bayesian optimization. Second, we offline train the policy in the augmented simulator via a novel offline algorithm with a Bayesian neural network and parallel Thompson sampling. Third, we online learn the policy in real networks with a novel online algorithm with safe exploration and Gaussian process regression. We implement Atlas on an end-to-end network prototype based on OpenAirInterface RAN, OpenDayLight SDN transport, OpenAir-CN core network, and Docker-based edge server. Experimental results show that, compared to state-of-the-art solutions, Atlas achieves 63.9% and 85.7% regret reduction on resource usage and slice quality of experience during the online learning stage, respectively.

Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has been in-creasingly employed to handle the dynamic and complex re-source management in network slicing. The deployment of DRL policies in real networks, however, is complicated by heterogeneous cell conditions. In this paper, we propose a novel transfer learning (TL) aided multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (MADRL) approach with inter-agent similarity analysis for inter-cell inter-slice resource partitioning. First, we design a coordinated MADRL method with information sharing to intelligently partition resource to slices and manage inter-cell interference. Second, we propose an integrated TL method to transfer the learned DRL policies among different local agents for accelerating the policy deployment. The method is composed of a new domain and task similarity measurement approach and a new knowledge transfer approach, which resolves the problem of from whom to transfer and how to transfer. We evaluated the proposed solution with extensive simulations in a system-level simulator and show that our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art solutions in terms of performance, convergence speed and sample efficiency. Moreover, by applying TL, we achieve an additional gain over 27% higher than the coordinated MADRL approach without TL.

Network slicing enables the operator to configure virtual network instances for diverse services with specific requirements. To achieve the slice-aware radio resource scheduling, dynamic slicing resource partitioning is needed to orchestrate multi-cell slice resources and mitigate inter-cell interference. It is, however, challenging to derive the analytical solutions due to the complex inter-cell interdependencies, inter-slice resource constraints, and service-specific requirements. In this paper, we propose a multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (DRL) approach that improves the max-min slice performance while maintaining the constraints of resource capacity. We design two coordination schemes to allow distributed agents to coordinate and mitigate inter-cell interference. The proposed approach is extensively evaluated in a system-level simulator. The numerical results show that the proposed approach with inter-agent coordination outperforms the centralized approach in terms of delay and convergence. The proposed approach improves more than two-fold increase in resource efficiency as compared to the baseline approach.

High definition (HD) map needs to be updated frequently to capture road changes, which is constrained by limited specialized collection vehicles. To maintain an up-to-date map, we explore crowdsourcing data from connected vehicles. Updating the map collaboratively is, however, challenging under constrained transmission and computation resources in dynamic networks. In this paper, we propose EdgeMap, a crowdsourcing HD map to minimize the usage of network resources while maintaining the latency requirements. We design a DATE algorithm to adaptively offload vehicular data on a small time scale and reserve network resources on a large time scale, by leveraging the multi-agent deep reinforcement learning and Gaussian process regression. We evaluate the performance of EdgeMap with extensive network simulations in a time-driven end-to-end simulator. The results show that EdgeMap reduces more than 30% resource usage as compared to state-of-the-art solutions.

Network slicing allows mobile network operators to virtualize infrastructures and provide customized slices for supporting various use cases with heterogeneous requirements. Online deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has shown promising potential in solving network problems and eliminating the simulation-to-reality discrepancy. Optimizing cross-domain resources with online DRL is, however, challenging, as the random exploration of DRL violates the service level agreement (SLA) of slices and resource constraints of infrastructures. In this paper, we propose OnSlicing, an online end-to-end network slicing system, to achieve minimal resource usage while satisfying slices' SLA. OnSlicing allows individualized learning for each slice and maintains its SLA by using a novel constraint-aware policy update method and proactive baseline switching mechanism. OnSlicing complies with resource constraints of infrastructures by using a unique design of action modification in slices and parameter coordination in infrastructures. OnSlicing further mitigates the poor performance of online learning during the early learning stage by offline imitating a rule-based solution. Besides, we design four new domain managers to enable dynamic resource configuration in radio access, transport, core, and edge networks, respectively, at a timescale of subseconds. We implement OnSlicing on an end-to-end slicing testbed designed based on OpenAirInterface with both 4G LTE and 5G NR, OpenDayLight SDN platform, and OpenAir-CN core network. The experimental results show that OnSlicing achieves 61.3% usage reduction as compared to the rule-based solution and maintains nearly zero violation (0.06%) throughout the online learning phase. As online learning is converged, OnSlicing reduces 12.5% usage without any violations as compared to the state-of-the-art online DRL solution.

Network slicing is a promising technology that allows mobile network operators to efficiently serve various emerging use cases in 5G. It is challenging to optimize the utilization of network infrastructures while guaranteeing the performance of network slices according to service level agreements (SLAs). To solve this problem, we propose SafeSlicing that introduces a new constraint-aware deep reinforcement learning (CaDRL) algorithm to learn the optimal resource orchestration policy within two steps, i.e., offline training in a simulated environment and online learning with the real network system. On optimizing the resource orchestration, we incorporate the constraints on the statistical performance of slices in the reward function using Lagrangian multipliers, and solve the Lagrangian relaxed problem via a policy network. To satisfy the constraints on the system capacity, we design a constraint network to map the latent actions generated from the policy network to the orchestration actions such that the total resources allocated to network slices do not exceed the system capacity. We prototype SafeSlicing on an end-to-end testbed developed by using OpenAirInterface LTE, OpenDayLight-based SDN, and CUDA GPU computing platform. The experimental results show that SafeSlicing reduces more than 20% resource usage while meeting SLAs of network slices as compared with other solutions.

Autonomous driving needs various line-of-sight sensors to perceive surroundings that could be impaired under diverse environment uncertainties such as visual occlusion and extreme weather. To improve driving safety, we explore to wirelessly share perception information among connected vehicles within automotive edge computing networks. Sharing massive perception data in real time, however, is challenging under dynamic networking conditions and varying computation work-loads. In this paper, we propose LiveMap, a real-time dynamic map, that detects, matches, and tracks objects on the road with crowdsourcing data from connected vehicles in sub-second. We develop the data plane of LiveMap that efficiently processes individual vehicle data with object detection, projection, feature extraction, object matching, and effectively integrates objects from multiple vehicles with object combination. We design the control plane of LiveMap that allows adaptive offloading of vehicle computations, and develop an intelligent vehicle scheduling and offloading algorithm to reduce the offloading latency of vehicles based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) techniques. We implement LiveMap on a small-scale testbed and develop a large-scale network simulator. We evaluate the performance of LiveMap with both experiments and simulations, and the results show LiveMap reduces 34.1% average latency than the baseline solution.

Network slicing enables multiple virtual networks run on the same physical infrastructure to support various use cases in 5G and beyond. These use cases, however, have very diverse network resource demands, e.g., communication and computation, and various performance metrics such as latency and throughput. To effectively allocate network resources to slices, we propose DeepSlicing that integrates the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) and deep reinforcement learning (DRL). DeepSlicing decomposes the network slicing problem into a master problem and several slave problems. The master problem is solved based on convex optimization and the slave problem is handled by DRL method which learns the optimal resource allocation policy. The performance of the proposed algorithm is validated through network simulations.

5G and edge computing will serve various emerging use cases that have diverse requirements of multiple resources, e.g., radio, transportation, and computing. Network slicing is a promising technology for creating virtual networks that can be customized according to the requirements of different use cases. Provisioning network slices requires end-to-end resource orchestration which is challenging. In this paper, we design a decentralized resource orchestration system named EdgeSlice for dynamic end-to-end network slicing. EdgeSlice introduces a new decentralized deep reinforcement learning (D-DRL) method to efficiently orchestrate end-to-end resources. D-DRL is composed of a performance coordinator and multiple orchestration agents. The performance coordinator manages the resource orchestration policies in all the orchestration agents to ensure the service level agreement (SLA) of network slices. The orchestration agent learns the resource demands of network slices and orchestrates the resource allocation accordingly to optimize the performance of the slices under the constrained networking and computing resources. We design radio, transport and computing manager to enable dynamic configuration of end-to-end resources at runtime. We implement EdgeSlice on a prototype of the end-to-end wireless edge computing network with OpenAirInterface LTE network, OpenDayLight SDN switches, and CUDA GPU platform. The performance of EdgeSlice is evaluated through both experiments and trace-driven simulations. The evaluation results show that EdgeSlice achieves much improvement as compared to baseline in terms of performance, scalability, compatibility.

In this paper, an ultra-dense mobile edge network is studied, where base stations (BSs) are equipped with computation resources to execute users' offloaded tasks. Although an ultradense BS deployment provides seamless coverage and reduced computation latency of the offloaded tasks, the cost of network power consumption is increased. We formulate an optimization problem to jointly optimize active BSs set, uplink and downlink beamforming vector selection, and computation resource allocation in order to tackle the power consumption and latency tradeoff. To efficiently solve this problem, we propose a sequential solution framework. Specifically, we first select the active BSs based on communication and computation power-aware selection rule. The computation resources and dual-link beamformers are subsequently optimized for the satisfaction of task computation deadline, network energy savings and improved coverage. Simulation results show that the proposed joint optimization framework significantly reduces the network power consumption.

5G network will carry compute-intensive applications from vertical industries. Network slicing and edge computing are key technologies for fulfilling the diverse requirements of these applications efficiently. We define a cellular network with the edge computing capability as cellular edge computing network. Dynamically slicing a cellular edge computing network is challenging because it needs to orchestrate multi-domain resources and ensure isolation among network slices. In this paper, we present the VirtualEdge system that enables the dynamic creation of a virtual node (vNode) on top of a physical cellular edge computing node to serve the traffic and workloads of a network slice. VirtualEdge introduces a realizable multi-domain resource orchestration and virtualization that provides isolation among network slices without losing the efficiency in virtualizing the radio resources. To efficiently orchestrate multi-domain resources, we design a new learning-assisted algorithm that allows the resource orchestrator to optimize the utilization of physical resources without knowing the utility functions of individual vNodes. For the resource virtualization, we develop a heuristic algorithm and a credit-based queue management scheme to dynamically map virtual radio and computing resources to underlying physical resources, respectively. VirtualEdge is developed and implemented based on the OpenAirInterface LTE and CUDA GPU computing platforms, and its performance is validated through both experiments and large-scale simulations.

Network slicing and edge computing are key technologies to enable compute-intensive applications for vertical industries in 5G. We define cellular networks with edge computing capabilities as cellular edge computing. In this paper, we study the cross-domain resource orchestration solution for dynamic network slicing in cellular edge computing. The fundamental research challenge is from the difficulty in modeling the relationship between the slice performance and resources from multiple technical domains across the network with many base stations and distributed edge servers. To address this challenge, we develop a distributed cross-domain resource orchestration (DIRECT) protocol which optimizes the cross-domain resource orchestration while providing the performance and functional isolations among network slices. The main component of DIRECT is a distributed cross-domain resource orchestration algorithm which is designed by integrating the ADMM method and a new learning-assisted optimization approach. The proposed resource orchestration algorithm efficiently orchestrates multi-domain resources without requiring the performance model of the network slices. We develop and implement the DIRECT protocol in a small-scale prototype of cellular edge computing which is designed based on OpenAirInterface LTE and CUDA GPU computing platforms. The performance of DIRECT is validated through both experiments and network simulations.

Mobile edge computing (MEC) is a new networking paradigm that enables low-latency computation offloading for compute-intensive mobile applications. The dynamic wireless channel, non-uniform spatiotemporal traffic, and limited computation resources impair the service latency of mobile edge computing. Therefore, jointly managing radio and computation resources is needed to achieve low latency MEC. In this paper, we propose a joint radio and computation resource management (iRAR) algorithm which minimizes users' service latency by optimizing the uplink transmission power, receive beamforming, computation task assignment, and computation resource allocation. We compare the performance of the proposed algorithm with three different algorithms and demonstrate that the iRAR algorithm reduces up to 52% average service latency as compared to the other algorithms.

By leveraging the elasticity of cloud computing, cloud radio access network (C-RAN) facilitates on-demand radio and computing resource provisioning. In this paper, we propose an energy-efficient on-demand C-RAN virtualization model which dynamically provisions virtual C-RAN according to service demand. The energy consumption of the virtual C-RAN is minimized by jointly optimizing the remote radio head (RRH) selection and computing resource provisioning. The network energy consumption minimization problem is challenging because of the interdependence between the RRH selection and the computing resource provisioning. We propose the energy-efficient on-demand C-RAN virtualization (REACT) algorithm to solve the problem in two steps. First, we cluster RRHs into groups using the hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) algorithm and assign a BBU to each RRH group for the baseband signal processing. Second, we determine the RRH selection by optimizing the cooperative beamforming. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated through extensive simulations, which shows the proposed algorithm reduces up to 62% of the network energy consumption as compared to a baseline algorithm.

Mobile augmented reality (MAR) is a killer application of mobile edge computing because of its high computation demand and stringent latency requirement. Since edge networks and computing resources are highly dynamic, handling such dynamics is essential for providing high-quality MAR services. In this paper, we design a new network protocol named DARE (dynamic adaptive AR over the edge) that enables mobile users to dynamically change their AR configurations according to wireless channel conditions and computation workloads in edge servers. The dynamic configuration adaptations reduce the service latency of MAR users and maximize the quality of augmentation (QoA) under varying network conditions and computation workloads. Considering the video frame size and computation model, i.e., object detection algorithms, as two key parameters in adapting the AR configuration, we develop analytical models to characterize the impact of these parameters on QoA and the service latency. Then, we design optimization mechanisms on both the edge server and AR devices to guide the AR configuration adaptation and server computation resource allocation. The performance of the DARE protocol is validated through a small-scale testbed implementation.

We demonstrate the Themis protocol and its system implementation that realizes cross-domain resource orchestration and virtualization in cellular computing networks.

Mobile augmented reality (MAR) involves high complexity computation which cannot be performed efficiently on resource limited mobile devices. The performance of MAR would be significantly improved by offloading the computation tasks to servers deployed with the close proximity to the users. In this paper, we design an edge network orchestrator to enable fast and accurate object analytics at the network edge for MAR. The measurement-based analytical models are built to characterize the tradeoff between the service latency and analytics accuracy in edge-based MAR systems. As a key component of the edge network orchestrator, a server assignment and frame resolution selection algorithm named FACT is proposed to mitigate the latency-accuracy tradeoff. Through network simulations, we evaluate the performance of the FACT algorithm and show the insights on optimizing the performance of edge-based MAR systems. We have implemented the edge network orchestrator and developed the corresponding communication protocol. Our experiments validate the performance of the proposed edge network orchestrator.

The complexity of networking mechanisms will increase significantly because of the dense deployment of radio base stations in ultra-dense mobile networks. As a result, the existing networking mechanisms may be unable to efficiently manage ultra-dense mobile networks. To solve this problem, we propose a data driven network optimization framework which integrates the big data analysis methods with networking mechanisms. In the proposed framework, we adopt big data analysis methods to divide densely deployed base stations into groups. Then, each group of base stations are managed with networking mechanisms independently. In this way, the complexity of the networking mechanisms is reduced. The key challenge in designing the framework is to optimally group base stations into clusters in real time. Addressing this challenge, the proposed framework consists of an offline machine learning module and an online base station clustering and network optimization module. The offline machine learning module predicts the optimal number of base station groups in the next time interval based on the historical data. The online base station clustering and network optimization module clusters base stations and optimize the network in real time. The performance of the proposed data-driven network management framework is validated through network simulations with real network data traces.

Network functions virtualization (NFV) has become a strategic tool that facilitates mobile network resource sharing and management by mobile network operators (MNOs). Cloud radio access network (C- RAN) virtualization allows agglomeration of multiple radio access networks (RANs) functions in a single resource pool. In this paper, Virtualized Radio Access Network (VRAN) is utilized as the enabler of inter-operator traffic offloading. To explore the energy saving potential of sleep mode scheme in base stations of cooperating MNOs, we leverage on inter-band non-contiguous carrier aggregation and put forward spectrum sharing into private and shared bands. We formulate an optimization problem to obtain the optimal intra- operator and inter-operator beamforming design for realizing energy-efficient virtual RAN. Inter- operator base station load transfer algorithm is proposed as well as inter-operator BS sleep-mode energy saving algorithm. Simulations results show a significant reduction of total inter-operator power consumption as compared to other algorithms.

Control data separation architecture (CDSA) is a more efficient architecture to overcome the overhead issue than the conventional cellular networks, especially for the huge bursty traffic like Internet of Things, and over-the-top (OTT) content service. In this paper, we study the optimization issue of network energy efficiency of the CDSA-based heterogeneous cloud radio access networks (H-CRAN) networks, which has heterogeneous fronthaul between control base station (CBS) and data base stations (DBSs). We first present a modified power consumption model for the CDSA-based H-CRAN, and then formulate the optimization problem with constraint of overall capacity of wireless fronthaul. Then we work out the resource assignment and power allocation by the convex relaxation approach using fractional programming, norm approximation, and Lagrangian dual decomposition method, with a derived the close-form optimal solution. Finally, we verify the proposed method by system- level simulation. The comprehensive simulation results show that our proposed algorithm has 10% EE gain compared to the static algorithm, and the CDSA-based H-CRAN networks can achieve up to 14% EE gain compared to the conventional network even under strict fronthaul capacity limit.