Deep reinforcement learning-based joint task offloading and resource allocation in multipath transmission vehicular networks

Mobile edge computing (MEC) is increasingly being applied to task computation with the continuing increase of computing-intensive applications in vehicular networks. The MEC can offload the tasks generated by the vehicle to the MEC server to mitigate the computational constraints on the mobile vehicle. However, most task offloading algorithms can not cope with the dynamic distribution of vehicles in vehicular networks. Moreover, most task offloading algorithms do not consider vehicular networks using multipath transmission schemes. Therefore, it remains a challenge to implement efficient joint task offloading and resource allocation (JTORA) algorithms in multipath transmission vehicular networks. In this paper, we introduce a novel cooperative transmission network architecture in multipath transmission vehicular networks. The computational tasks generated by the vehicles can be offloaded to MEC servers deployed near the base station or to cloud servers via multipath transmission. We formulate the task offloading and resource allocation problem as a multi-objective optimization problem in a multipath transmission vehicular network. To achieve efficient task offloading and resource allocation under cooperative transmission network architecture, we propose a JTORA algorithm for multipath transmission vehicular networks based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL). JTORA converts the optimization problem into a DRL model and obtains a specific optimization policy through model training. Simulation results show that JTORA achieves lower average task delay and lower average task cost than other traditional heuristic algorithms. In this article, a joint task offloading and resource allocation (JTORA) algorithm is proposed for multipath transmission vehicular networks based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL). Simulation results show that JTORA achieves lower average task delay and lower average task cost than other traditional heuristic algorithms.image