2026· IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications· Vol 25, pp. 19115-19130· 0 citations· 42 references
Computer Science
Abstract
The flexible deployment of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the wide-area coverage of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites make their integration in space–air–ground integrated networks (SAGINs) a promising solution for communication in resource-constrained remote areas. This paper proposes a SAGIN framework supporting mobile edge computing (MEC) with a three-layer architecture, which provides heterogeneous computing resources for ground Internet of Things (IoT) devices and enables users in remote and underdeveloped regions to access computational services. Our objective is to minimize the weighted sum of energy consumption and latency in the SAGIN subject to satellite coverage time constraints and partial task offloading requirements. The optimization problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) challenge that jointly optimizes the UAV’s three-dimensional trajectory, IoT device association, transmit power, and task assignment. The coupled optimization variables form a hybrid action space with both discrete and continuous actions. To address this challenge, a parameterized double deep Q-network (P-DDQN) algorithm based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is proposed. The proposed method employs the DDQN algorithm to handle discrete actions and the deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) algorithm to generate continuous actions. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms several baseline schemes in terms of system cost, providing an efficient solution for highly coupled hybrid decision optimization problems in SAGINs.
Integrated Terrestrial–Non-Terrestrial Networks (ITNTN), which combine terrestrial base stations (BSs), High-Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS), and Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, are key enablers of 6G communication and edge computing (EC) services. However, energy-limited BSs, particularly HAPS and satellites, pose significant sustainability challenges under continuous operation. To address this issue, we propose an on-demand EC server activation framework integrated with intelligent task offloading across ITNTN. A joint optimization problem is formulated to maximize task offloading success while satisfying energy and quality-of-service requirements. To solve it, we propose an online Q-learning policy that adaptively manages task offloading and EC server activation without prior knowledge of traffic dynamics. Simulation results show that the proposed method achieves superior task offloading success and energy efficiency compared to online heuristic and offline metaheuristic baselines. These findings highlight the importance of energyaware On-Off EC control for sustainable ITNTN systems.
Insaf Rzig, W. Jaafar, Safwan Alfattani· International Conference on...· 0 citations
A Lyapunov-based joint optimization framework for UAV-enabled MEC systems achieves a balanced tradeoff between delay, energy consumption, and UAV flight activity, supporting energy-efficient and delay-aware UAV-MEC operation.
Lei Li, Xue Gao, Quansheng Guan· Electronics· 0 citations
A task-driven offloading algorithm based on Balanced Multi-Agent Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (BMADDPG) that reduces average task processing latency by approximately 22.67% and decreases total system cost by at least 18.32% under high-load scenarios.
With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite edge computing technology, there has been a rapid increase in the demand for intelligence networks and services among users in remote areas, such as federated learning (FL). We propose a satellite aided computation FL (SACFL) system in LEO ubiquitous edge computing (UEC) networks, aiming at improving the efficiency of FL tasks in remote areas. In the considered deployment scenario, the following key factors are considered: 1) terrestrial users in remote areas; 2) offloading data to satellites for aided computation; and 3) global aggregation on satellite. However, the highly dynamic characteristics and the uneven distribution of satellite computation resources pose significant challenges to the low-delay requirements of satellite-based FL tasks. To this end, we formulate an optimization problem to minimize delay by jointly considering access selection, computation offloading, aggregation satellite (AgS) selection, and computation resource allocation. To solve the formulated problem, we propose a novel multi-agent alternating (M2A) optimization method. Specifically, three independent agents are trained alternately to make decisions on access selection, computation offloading, and AgS selection. Comprehensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms other benchmark algorithms in terms of convergence, delay, and FL accuracy.
Junyi Yang, Yafeng Ma, Zhenyu Xiao et al.· IEEE Transactions on Cogniti...· 0 citations
An MECN that integrates UAVs as the aerial layer and TESs as the terrestrial layer is introduced, and a quantum-inspired particle swarm optimization-based offloading strategy (QIPSO-TOS) is proposed to facilitate coverage-aware task offloading.
Marlom Bey, P. Kuila, Biswadip Bandyopadhyay et al.· Journal of Supercomputing· 0 citations
With the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile computing, edge computing has emerged as a promising paradigm for providing low-latency and energy-efficient services. However, in some extremely computation-intensive scenarios, conventional terrestrial edge computing may fail due to the insufficient computing capability of ground base stations. Fortunately, multi-UAV-assisted edge computing offers a promising solution to this challenge. Nevertheless, existing methods often struggle to provide efficient horizontal cooperative deployment for multiple UAVs with low computational overhead. To address this issue, this paper considers user randomness and inter-UAV collaboration, and proposes a low-complexity yet highly adaptive approach for cooperative deployment and task-scheduling optimization in multi-UAV-assisted edge computing systems. Specifically, we formulate the problem as a stochastic optimization problem that minimizes the energy consumption of ground users while ensuring UAV battery endurance and overall system performance. We then propose a dynamic cooperative deployment and task scheduling (DCDTS) algorithm that integrates K-means clustering with the Lyapunov optimization framework. Through Lyapunov optimization, the original dynamic optimization problem is transformed into a deterministic problem and further decomposed into multiple subproblems that can be solved in parallel. K-means is exploited to enable cooperative UAV deployment and user offloading decisions, while non-convex optimization and nonlinear programming are employed to solve the task-scheduling and resource-allocation subproblem. Extensive parameter analysis and comparative experiments demonstrate that the proposed dynamic cooperative deployment algorithm can effectively reduce user energy consumption while maintaining UAV energy constraints and system performance.