IEEE Future Networks Tech Focus
Issue 14, April 2022
In This Issue
- How does SVC enable Distributed Caching in MEC?
- Quantum-inspired Processing for System Optimization in Emerging Networks
- New network architectures will be weakly coupled
How does SVC enable Distributed Caching in MEC?
April 2022
Suvadip Batabyal, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus, India.
With an ever-increasing demand for the delivery of internet video services, the service providers are facing a huge challenge to deliver ultra-HD (2k/4k) video at sub-second latency. The multi-access edge computing (MEC) platform helps achieve this objective by caching popular content at the edge of a cellular network. This reduces the delivery latency and the load, and the cost of the backhaul links. However, MEC platforms are afflicted by constrained resources in terms of storage and processing capabilities, and centralized caching of contents may nullify the advantage of reduced latency by lowering the offloading probability. Distributed caching at the edge improves the offloading likelihood and dynamically adjusts the load distribution among the MEC servers. In this article, we propose an architecture for the deployment of MEC platforms by exploiting the characteristics of a scalable video encoding technique. The content providers use layered video coding techniques, such as scalable video coding (SVC), to adjust to the network dynamics by dynamically dropping packets to reduce latency. We show how an SVC video easily lends itself to distributed caching at the edge. Then we investigate the latency-storage trade-off by storing the video layers at different parts of the access networks.
Quantum-inspired Processing for System Optimization in Emerging Networks
April 2022
Dilip Krishnaswamy (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
This paper explores quantum-inspired techniques for resource management and optimization of emerging wireless networks. As wireless networks continue to evolve into 6G and beyond, the deployment of networks will be increasingly heterogeneous comprising of base-stations or access points or distributed units serving users in different spectra utilizing different technologies, with self-organizing features enabled. A Quasi-quantum graph colouring algorithm can be considered using virtual cell identifiers to coordinate across access nodes and to enable such networks to be optimized. Dynamic energy savings can be performed in a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization framework. Dynamic load balancing is suggested using an entangled quantum state variable across access nodes, to represent a distributed network availability state. In general, a distributed probabilistic quantum state vector can be utilized to enable quantum-inspired resource optimization in emerging networks for different network optimization problems.
New network architectures will be weakly coupled
April 2022
Aarne Mämmelä, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland
Jukka Riekki, Center for Ubiquitous Computing, University of Oulu, Finland
Future wireless network control architectures will be based on weakly coupled agents in the form of hybrid self-organizing networks that combine centralized and distributed control. Weakly coupled systems have been studied scientifically in many disciplines since the 1960s. Vertically and horizontally weakly coupled agents form a stable, scalable, and efficient hierarchical system. In communications, a central agent acts as a network manager with the purpose to guarantee fairness and constrain the use of basic resources such as energy, time, and bandwidth. The lowest level agents are transmitters and receivers that work almost autonomously due to weak vertical coupling. The system is based on time-scale separation of hierarchy levels: high-level agents act much more slowly than low-level agents. Horizontal coupling through interference between users is minimized by using orthogonal signals. This is called interference avoidance. All feedback loops at different hierarchy levels and at the same hierarchy level must be decoupled. This combination of vertical and horizontal decoupling of feedback control loops forms our main contribution in this paper.
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Imran Shafique Ansari
Anwer Al-Dulaimi
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Yang Hao
Gerry Hayes
Chih-Lin I
James Irvine
Meng Lu
Amine Maaref
Thas Nirmalathas
Sen Wang
Shugong Xu
Haijun Zhang