Edge Intelligence for IoT Services in 6G Integrated Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial Networks

Integrating terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks can provide ubiquitous global communications for 6G Internet of Things (IoT) services. However, integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks (ITNTNs) face enormous challenges, such as complex network environments, differentiated service demands, and multi-layer heterogeneous networks. By leveraging the powerful driving force of edge intelligence (EI) technology on the development of networks, a framework named "ITNTNs with EI" is proposed in this paper as a promising solution to meet the above challenges. We design the proposed framework's system architecture, edge resource deployment schemes, and intelligent training models and discuss its application scenarios, challenges, and some open research issues. Then, simulation experiments about a EI-powered joint computation offloading and resource allocation optimization solution are conducted for a specific framework instance. The results demonstrate that the resource management solutions driven by EI can provide faster response and better quality of service for IoT applications in ITNTNs.