Computation bits maximization in backscatter-aided wireless powered MEC using binary offloading

This article considers a backscatter-aided wireless powered mobile edge computing (BC-aided WPMEC) network, in which the tasks data of each Internet of Things (IoT) device can be computed locally or offloaded to the MEC server via backscatter communications, and design a resource allocation scheme regarding the weighted sum computation bits (WSCB) maximization of all the IoT devices. Towards this end, by optimizing the mobile edge computing (MEC) server’s transmit power, IoT devices’ power reflection coefficients, local computing frequencies and time, the time allocation between the energy harvesting and task offloading, as well as the binary offloading decision at each IoT device, we built a WSCB maximization problem, which belongs to a non-convex mixed integer programming problem. For solving this, the proof by contradiction and the objective function’s monotonicity are considered to determine the optimal local computing time of each IoT device and the optimal transmit power of the MEC server, and the time-sharing relaxation (TSR) is adopted to tackle the integer variables, which are used to simplify the original problem. Then, we decouple the simplified problem into two sub-problems by means of the block coordinate decent (BCD) technology, and each of the sub-problems is transformed to a convex one by introducing auxiliary variables. Based on this, we design a two-stage alternative (TSA) optimization algorithm to solve the formulated WSCB problem. Computer simulations validate that the TSA algorithm has a fast convergent rate and also demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves a higher WSCB than the existing schemes.     

Fairness optimization in IRS-assisted MEC computational offloading

Nowadays, more and more multimedia services are supported by Mobile Edge Computing (MEC). However, the instability of the wireless environment brings a lot of uncertainty to the computational offloading. Additionally, intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is considered as a potential technology to enhance Quality of Service (QoS). Therefore, in this paper, we establish a framework for IRS-assisted MEC computational offloading to solve this problem and take fairness optimization as a key point involving communication and computing resources. Minimize user consumption by optimizing bandwidth allocation, task offloading ratio, edge computing resources, transmission power and IRS phase shifts. Firstly, we decompose the problem into three aspects, such as bandwidth allocation, computing resource allocation, transmission power and IRS phase shifts. Then, an alternative optimization algorithm is proposed to find the optimum solution and its convergence is proved. Secondly, since the optimization problem on transmission power and IRS phase shifts is non-convex, we propose Riemann gradient descent (R-SGD) algorithm to solve it. Finally, numerical results show that our proposed algorithm performs better than other algorithms and achieves a superiority in the framework.     

Secure computation offloading assisted by intelligent reflection surface for mobile edge computing network

As an novel paradigm, computation offloading in the mobile edge computing (MEC) system can effectively support the resource-intensive applications for the mobile devices (MD) equipped with limited computing capability. However, the hostile radio transmission and data leakage during the offloading process may erode the MEC system’s potential. To tackle these hindrances, we investigate an IRS-assisted secure MEC system with eavesdroppers, where the intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is deployed to enhance the communication between the MD and the AP equipped with edge servers and the malicious eavesdroppers may attack the wireless data offloaded by MD. The MD opt for offloading part of the tasks to the edge server for execution to support the computation-intensive applications. Moreover, the relevant latency minimization problem is formulated by optimizing the offloading ratio, the allocation of edge server computing capability, the multiple-user-detection (MUD) matrix and the IRS phase shift parameters, subject to the constraints of edge computation resource and practical IRS phase shifts. Then, the original problem is decouple into two subproblem, and the computing and communication subproblems are alternatively optimized by block coordinate descent (BCD) method with low complexity. Finally, simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can significantly enhance the performance of secure offloading in the MEC system.     

基于电化学模型的锂离子电池多尺度建模及其简化方法

锂离子电池的精确建模和状态估计对于电动汽车电池管理系统非常重要,准二维(P2D)电化学模型由于计算复杂,难以直接应用于电池管理的参数在线估计和实时控制中.本文基于多孔电极理论和浓度理论,提出一种考虑锂离子液相动力学的简化准二维(SP2D)模型.忽略锂离子孔壁流量沿电极厚度方向的变化求解SP2D模型所描述的锂离子电池锂浓度分布,基于锂离子电池电化学平均动力学行为求解固相和液相电势变化,推导出电池电压计算的简化表达式;采用恒流、脉冲以及城市循环工况放电电流对比分析了严格P2D模型与SP2D模型的终端电压和浓度分布.结果表明:SP2D模型在保持较高计算精度的同时,可显著提高计算效率.     

Latency minimization for IRS-assisted mobile edge computing networks

In this paper, we consider the latency minimization problem via designing intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-assisted mobile edge computing (MEC) networks. For the scene when local users cannot complete all computing tasks independently, a common solution is transferring tasks to cloud servers. We consider that the MEC system contains multiple independent users, and each user sends task data to the base station in a partially offloaded manner. Our goal is to minimize the maximum latency for all users. The original problem is strongly non-convex, which caused difficulty to solve. We first introduce a new variable to transform the max–min problem into an alternative minimization problem, and then solve each optimization variable separately by the block coordinate descent method. Finally, our simulation experiments demonstrate that our proposed scheme obtain better performance with respect to other existing schemes.     

QoS-aware resource allocation and fault tolerant operation in hybrid SDN using stochastic network calculus

Mobile edge computing (MEC) is a key feature of next-generation mobile networks aimed at providing a variety of services for different applications by performing related processing tasks closer to the users. With the advent of the next-generation mobile networks, researchers have turned their attention to various aspects of edge computing in an effort to leverage the new capabilities offered by 5G. So, the integration of software defined networking (SDN) and MEC techniques was seriously considered to facilitate the orchestration and management of Mobile Edge Hosts (MEH). Edge clouds can be installed as an interface between the local servers and the core to provide the required services based on the known concept of the SDN networks. Nonetheless, the problem of reliability and fault tolerance will be of great importance in such networks. The paper introduced a dynamic architecture that focuses on the end-to-end mobility support required to maintain service continuity and quality of service. This paper also presents an SDN control plane with stochastic network calculus (SNC) framework to control MEC data flows. In accordance with the entrance processes of different QoS-class data flows, closed-form problems were formulated to determine the correlation between resource utilization and the violation probability of each data flow. Compared to other solutions investigated in the literature, the proposed approach exhibits a significant increase in the throughput distributed over the active links of mobile edge hosts. It also proved that the outage index and the system’s aggregate data rate can be effectively improved by up to 32%.     

Game theory-based radio resource allocation in NOMA vehicular communication networks supported by UAV

Vehicular communication networks are emerging as a promising technology to provide high-quality internet service such as entertainment for road users via infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication, and to guarantee road users’ safety via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. Some technical issues that impact the performance of these networks are the lack of or poor communication paths between vehicles, and the limitation of radio resources. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as promising solutions for supporting vehicular networks could provide communication coverage in hazardous environments and areas with no capacities for installation or maintenance of ground base stations (BSs). Also, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) methods can improve spectral and energy efficiency and thereby allow more users to be connected to the desired network. In this paper, exploring the NOMA, we develop a scheme for optimum resource allocation in presence of a UAV that supports vehicular communications. Resource allocation for this scenario is formulated as a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problem. Due to the high complexity of such problems, we propose two low-complexity near-optimal methods. First, we apply difference-of-concave-functions (DC) approximations to solve the problem in an iterative process. Next, we use Stackelberg game-based method for efficient solving, and then, closed-form expressions of optimal power allocations using KKT-conditions are derived. Simulations illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme along with the Stackelberg game-based method.     

Quality of Service based resource allocation in D2D enabled 5G-CNs with network slicing

With the rapid new advancements in technology, there is an enormous increase in devices and their versatile need for services. Fifth-generation (5G) cellular networks (5G-CNs) with network slicing (NS) have emerged as a necessity for future mobile communication. The available network is partitioned logically into multiple virtual networks to provide an enormous range of users’ specific services. Efficient resource allocation methods are critical to delivering the customers with their required Quality of Service (QoS) priorities. In this work, we have investigated a QoS based resource allocation (RA) scheme considering two types of 5G slices with different service requirements; (1) enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) slice that requires a very high data rate and (2) massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) slice that requires extremely low latency. We investigated the device-to-device (D2D) enabled 5G-CN model with NS to assign resources to users based on their QoS needs while considering the cellular and D2D user’s data rate requirements. We have proposed a Distributed Algorithm (DA) with edge computation to solve the optimization problem, which is novel as edge routers will solve the problem locally using the augmented Lagrange method. They then send this information to the central server to find the global optimum solution utilizing a consensus algorithm. Simulation analysis proves that this scheme is efficient as it assigns resources based on their QoS requirements. This scheme is excellent in reducing the central load and computational time.     

DRL-Assisted Resource Allocation for NOMA-MEC Offloading with Hybrid SIC

Multi-access edge computing (MEC) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) are regarded as promising technologies to improve the computation capability and offloading efficiency of mobile devices in the sixth-generation (6G) mobile system. This paper mainly focused on the hybrid NOMA-MEC system, where multiple users were first grouped into pairs, and users in each pair offloaded their tasks simultaneously by NOMA, then a dedicated time duration was scheduled to the more delay-tolerant user for uploading the remaining data by orthogonal multiple access (OMA). For the conventional NOMA uplink transmission, successive interference cancellation (SIC) was applied to decode the superposed signals successively according to the channel state information (CSI) or the quality of service (QoS) requirement. In this work, we integrated the hybrid SIC scheme, which dynamically adapts the SIC decoding order among all NOMA groups. To solve the user grouping problem, a deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based algorithm was proposed to obtain a close-to-optimal user grouping policy. Moreover, we optimally minimized the offloading energy consumption by obtaining the closed-form solution to the resource allocation problem. Simulation results showed that the proposed algorithm converged fast, and the NOMA-MEC scheme outperformed the existing orthogonal multiple access (OMA) scheme.     

Profit maximization in cache-aided intelligent computing networks

This paper focuses on the profit maximization problem in a reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) aided computing network, where multiple heterogeneous users offload their computational tasks to one computational access point (CAP) for seeking computing acceleration at the cost of profit. In particular, the CAP can also pre-store a part of the computing task to speed up computing, and the system has limited communication and computing resources, where heterogeneous users have different offloading requirements and the CAP can dynamically allocate the system resources to meet the requirements of users to earn profits. To maximize the system profit, we devise the system by proposing a resource allocation scheme which employs a genetic algorithm (GA), based on statistical channel state information (CSI) of wireless links. The proposed algorithm maximizes the long-term profit of the system by optimizing resource allocation among users. Finally, simulation results are provided to verify the proposed scheme. The results show that our proposed resource allocation scheme outperforms the conventional ones.     

3D beamforming in Intelligent Reflecting Surface (IRS)-assisted multi-user cognitive radio networks

In this paper, we consider a multi-user cognitive radio network (CRN) equipped with an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS). We examine the network performance by evaluating the fairness of the secondary system, which is satisfying the minimum required signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) for each secondary user (SU). The minimum SINR of the SUs is maximized by joint optimization of the beamforming vector and three-dimensional beamforming (3DBF) angles at the secondary base station (SBS) and also the phase shifts of the IRS elements. This optimization problem is highly non-convex. To solve this problem, we utilize Dinkelbach’s algorithm along with an alternating optimization (AO) approach to achieve some sub-problems. Accordingly, by further applying a semi-definite relaxation method, we convert these sub-problems to equivalent convex forms and find a solution. Furthermore, analytically we propose an algorithm for optimizing 3DBF angles at the SBS. Through numerical results, the improvement of the sum SINR of the secondary system using the proposed method is illustrated. Moreover, it is shown that as the number of reflecting elements of IRS increases, the sum SINR significantly augments while satisfying fairness. Also, the convergence of the proposed algorithm is verified utilizing numerical results.     

Vinyl ethylene carbonate as an electrolyte additive for high-voltage LiNi<Subscript>0.4</Subscript>Mn<Subscript>0.4</Subscript>Co<Subscript>0.2</Subscript>O<Subscript>2</Subscript>/graphite Li-ion batteries

Vinyl ethylene carbonate (VEC) is investigated as an electrolyte additive to improve the electrochemical performance of LiNi_0.4Mn_0.4Co_0.2O₂/graphite lithium-ion battery at higher voltage operation (3.0–4.5 V) than the conventional voltage (3.0–4.25 V). In the voltage range of 3.0–4.5 V, it is shown that the performances of the cells with VEC-containing electrolyte are greatly improved than the cells without additive. With 2.0 wt.% VEC addition in the electrolyte, the capacity retention of the cell is increased from 62.5 to 74.5 % after 300 cycles. The effects of VEC on the cell performance are investigated by cyclic voltammetry(CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS), x-ray powder diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR). The results show that the films electrochemically formed on both anode and cathode, derived from the in situ decomposition of VEC at the initial charge–discharge cycles, are the main reasons for the improved cell performance.     

基于遗传算法的云计算资源调度策略研究

对云计算环境中的资源调度问题进行了研究,鉴于当前云计算环境中资源利用率不高,节点负载不均衡的问题,提出了一种新的基于遗传算法的关于虚拟机负载均衡的调度策略。根据历史数据和系统的当前状态以及通过遗传算法,该策略能够达到最佳负载均衡和减少或避免动态迁移,同时还引入了平均负载来衡量该算法的全局负载均衡效果。最后通过在CloudSim平台进行仿真实验,结果表明,该策略具有相当好的全局收敛性和效率,当系统虚拟机被调度之后,算法在很大程度上能够解决负载不均衡和高迁移成本问题,并且极大地提高了资源利用率。     

Data center application oriented control architecture in multi-domain optical networks

With the rapid development of cloud computing, data center application based on considerable storage and computing has become one of the most important service types. Currently the high performance computing facilities and large-capacity storage devices are highly distributed in different locations. Then how to make full use of the current data center mainly depends on the effective joint scheduling of application layer and network layer resources. According to the rigid requirement of data center application, a novel convergence control architecture, i.e. Service-Oriented Group Engine (SOGE) framework is proposed in multi-domain optical networks based on DREAM architecture, and also the corresponding resource demand model (RDM) is built. A resource joint scheduling algorithm (RJSA) for application layer and network layer resource is proposed and implemented based on SOGE framework. Moreover, the SOGE framework and resource joint scheduling algorithm are validated and demonstrated on the test-bed based on DREAM architecture.     

A DEC-MDP model for joint uplink/downlink resource management in OFDMA-based networks

With the advent of mobile services with asymmetric and symmetric quality of service (QoS) requirements, traditional single link resource allocation techniques have started to show some limitations in handling the complex requirements. To address these issues, joint uplink/downlink resource management approaches were recently introduced where both communications links are jointly considered in the resource management process. One direct consequence of this coupling is a modification of the underlying queueing behavior since the decision making process in one direction in terms of transmission rate now depends on the performance achieved in the opposite direction. In this paper, we present a modeling approach of the decision making process that takes place under the joint uplink/downlink resource management framework. Using decentralized Markov decision processes (DEC-MDP) as a model and gradient ascent methods as an optimization technique, we formulate and solve the joint uplink/downlink decision making process. The uplink and downlink of each user are considered as agents. Assuming certain subcarrier and power allocation schemes, we investigate the resource usage in the uplink and downlink to achieve a certain delay balancing constraint where the total delay in the uplink and downlink is bound by a pre-determined threshold. The approach followed starts by modeling the problem in hand using DEC-MDPs. After discussing the different aspects of the model, the solution using gradient ascent is described. Simulation results illustrate the different dimensions of the problem and their impact on the resource management process.     

Energy efficient collaborative computation for double-RIS assisted mobile edge networks

Computation offloading in mobile edge computing (MEC) systems emerges as a novel paradigm of supporting various resource-intensive applications. However, the potential capabilities of MEC cannot be fully unleashed when the communication links are blocked by obstacles. This paper investigates a double-reconfigurable-intelligent-surfaces (RISs) assisted MEC system. To efficiently utilize the limited frequency resource, the users can partially offload their computational tasks to the MEC server deployed at base station (BS) by adopting non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) protocol. We aim to minimize the energy consumption of users with limited resource by jointly optimizing the transmit power of users, the offloading fraction of users and the phase-shifts of RISs. Since the problem is non-convex with highly coupled variables, the block coordinate descent (BCD) method is leveraged to alternatively optimize the decomposed four subproblems. Specifically, we invoke successive convex approximation for low complexity (SCALE) and Dinkelbach technique to tackle the fractional programming of power optimization. Then the offloading fraction is obtained by closed-form solution. Further, we leverage semidefinite relaxation (SDR) and bisection method to address the phase-shifts design of double RISs. Finally, numerical results illustrate that the proposed double-RIS assisted NOMA scheme is capable of efficiently reducing the energy consumption and achieves significant performance gain over the benchmark schemes.     

A revised version of the program VEC （visual computing in electron crystallography）

The program package VEC (Visual computing in Electron Crystallography) has been revised such that (i) a program converting one-line symbols to two-line symbols of (3+1)-dimensional superspace groups has been incorporated into VEC so that the latter can interpret both kinds of symbols; (ii) a bug in calculating structure factors of one-dimensionally incommensurate modulated crystals has been fixed. The correction has been verified by successfully matching the experimental electron microscopy image of an incommensurate crystal with a series of simulated images. The precompiled revised version of VEC and relevant materials are available on the Web at http://cryst.iphy.ac.cn.     

Self-Adaptive Learning of Task Offloading in Mobile Edge Computing Systems

Mobile edge computing (MEC) focuses on transferring computing resources close to the user’s device, and it provides high-performance and low-delay services for mobile devices. It is an effective method to deal with computationally intensive and delay-sensitive tasks. Given the large number of underutilized computing resources for mobile devices in urban areas, leveraging these underutilized resources offers tremendous opportunities and value. Considering the spatiotemporal dynamics of user devices, the uncertainty of rich computing resources and the state of network channels in the MEC system, computing resource allocation in mobile devices with idle computing resources will affect the response time of task requesting. To solve these problems, this paper considers the case in which a mobile device can learn from a neighboring IoT device when offloading a computing request. On this basis, a novel self-adaptive learning of task offloading algorithm (SAda) is designed to minimize the average offloading delay in the MEC system. SAda adopts a distributed working mode and has a perception function to adapt to the dynamic environment in reality; it does not require frequent access to equipment information. Extensive simulations demonstrate that SAda achieves preferable latency performance and low learning error compared to the existing upper bound algorithms.     

Optimal resource scheduling algorithm for cell boundaries users in heterogenous 5G networks

Deployment of small cells over the existing cellular network is an effective solution to improve the system coverage and throughput of fifth generation (5G) mobile communication networks. The arrival of the 5G mobile networks have demonstrated the importance of advanced scheduling techniques to manage the limited frequency spectrum available while achieving 5G transmission requirements. Cellular networks of the future necessitate the formulation of efficient resource allocation schemes that mitigate the interference between the different cells. In this research work, we formulate an optimization problem for heterogenous networks (HetNets) for resource allocation to maximize the system throughput among the cell center users (CCUs) and cell edge users (CEUs). We solve the optimization problem by effective utilization of the weight factors distribution for resource allocation. A novel Utility-based Resource Scheduling Algorithm (URSA) optimizes the resource sharing among the users with better delay budget of each application. The designed URSA ameliorates fairness along with reduced cross layer interference for real and non-real time applications. Performance of the URSA has been evaluated and compared most relevant state of art algorithms using the matlab based simulators. Furthermore, simulation results validate the superiority of the proposed scheduling scheme against conventional techniques in terms of throughput, fairness, and spectral efficiency.     

The optimal energy-efficient design of user-specific RIS-aided uplink communication system

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) has the potential to be an important technology for the sixth-generation (6G) communications in future. Especially, RIS can improve communication performance by extending coverage or improving the conditions for signal propagation. Most of the current work mainly focused on the reflective type RIS. In contrast, the recent emergence of user-specific reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (US-RIS) is a transmissive type. Unlike reflective RIS, which is typically deployed near the base station, US-RIS is deployed on the user side and is capable of adjusting the phase of the user’s signal. In this paper, our research focuses on energy-efficient in the context of quality of service requirements. For this purpose, we formulate a joint optimization problem. As the optimization problem is non-convex, we separate and treat these variables in several sub-problems. The sub-problems are solved separately for the variables by alternating updates, either using closed-form solutions or using the semidefinite relaxation (SDR) method. In addition, it is clear from the simulation results that US-RIS is able to improve the energy efficiency of the communication system. Furthermore, the increased number of US-RIS elements can also improve the energy efficiency of the communication system.