A Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Framework for Content Caching

Content caching at the edge nodes is a promising technique to reduce the data traffic in next-generation wireless networks. Inspired by the success of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) in solving complicated control problems, this work presents a DRL-based framework with Wolpertinger architecture for content caching at the base station. The proposed framework is aimed at maximizing the long-term cache hit rate, and it requires no knowledge of the content popularity distribution. To evaluate the proposed framework, we compare the performance with other caching algorithms, including Least Recently Used (LRU), Least Frequently Used (LFU), and First-In First-Out (FIFO) caching strategies. Meanwhile, since the Wolpertinger architecture can effectively limit the action space size, we also compare the performance with Deep Q-Network to identify the impact of dropping a portion of the actions. Our results show that the proposed framework can achieve improved short-term cache hit rate and improved and stable long-term cache hit rate in comparison with LRU, LFU, and FIFO schemes. Additionally, the performance is shown to be competitive in comparison to Deep Q-learning, while the proposed framework can provide significant savings in runtime.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Learning-based Decision Making in Wireless Communications

Fueled by emerging applications and exponential increase in data traffic, wireless networks have recently grown significantly and become more complex. In such large-scale complex wireless networks, it is challenging and, oftentimes, infeasible for conventional optimization methods to quickly solve critical decision-making problems. With this motivation, in this thesis, machine learning methods are developed and utilized for obtaining optimal/near-optimal solutions for timely decision making in wireless networks. Content caching at the edge nodes is a promising technique to reduce the data traffic in next-generation wireless networks. In this context, we in the first part of the thesis study content caching at the wireless network edge using a deep reinforcement learning framework with Wolpertinger architecture. Initially, we develop a learning-based caching policy for a single base station aiming at maximizing the long-term cache hit rate. Then, we extend this study to a wireless communication network with multiple edge nodes. In particular, we propose deep actor-critic reinforcement learning based policies for both centralized and decentralized content caching. Next, with the purpose of making efficient use of limited spectral resources, we develop a deep actor-critic reinforcement learning based framework for dynamic multichannel access. We consider both a single-user case and a scenario in which multiple users attempt to access channels simultaneously. In the single-user model, in order to evaluate the performance of the proposed channel access policy and the framework\u27s tolerance against uncertainty, we explore different channel switching patterns and different switching probabilities. In the case of multiple users, we analyze the probabilities of each user accessing channels with favorable channel conditions and the probability of collision. Following the analysis of the proposed learning-based dynamic multichannel access policy, we consider adversarial attacks on it. In particular, we propose two adversarial policies, one based on feed-forward neural networks and the other based on deep reinforcement learning policies. Both attack strategies aim at minimizing the accuracy of a deep reinforcement learning based dynamic channel access agent, and we demonstrate and compare their performances. Next, anomaly detection as an active hypothesis test problem is studied. Specifically, we study deep reinforcement learning based active sequential testing for anomaly detection. We assume that there is an unknown number of abnormal processes at a time and the agent can only check with one sensor in each sampling step. To maximize the confidence level of the decision and minimize the stopping time concurrently, we propose a deep actor-critic reinforcement learning framework that can dynamically select the sensor based on the posterior probabilities. Separately, we also regard the detection of threshold crossing as an anomaly detection problem, and analyze it via hierarchical generative adversarial networks (GANs). In the final part of the thesis, to address state estimation and detection problems in the presence of noisy sensor observations and probing costs, we develop a soft actor-critic deep reinforcement learning framework. Moreover, considering Byzantine attacks, we design a GAN-based framework to identify the Byzantine sensors. To evaluate the proposed framework, we measure the performance in terms of detection accuracy, stopping time, and the total probing cost needed for detection

Soft Actor-Critic Learning-Based Joint Computing, Pushing, and Caching Framework in MEC Networks

To support future 6G mobile applications, the mobile edge computing (MEC) network needs to be jointly optimized for computing, pushing, and caching to reduce transmission load and computation cost. To achieve this, we propose a framework based on deep reinforcement learning that enables the dynamic orchestration of these three activities for the MEC network. The framework can implicitly predict user future requests using deep networks and push or cache the appropriate content to enhance performance. To address the curse of dimensionality resulting from considering three activities collectively, we adopt the soft actor-critic reinforcement learning in continuous space and design the action quantization and correction specifically to fit the discrete optimization problem. We conduct simulations in a single-user single-server MEC network setting and demonstrate that the proposed framework effectively decreases both transmission load and computing cost under various configurations of cache size and tolerable service delay

XRL-SHAP-Cache : an explainable reinforcement learning approach for intelligent edge service caching in content delivery networks

Content delivery networks (CDNs) play a pivotal role in the modern internet infrastructure by enabling efficient content delivery across diverse geographical regions. As an essential component of CDNs, the edge caching scheme directly influences the user experience by determining the caching and eviction of content on edge servers. With the emergence of 5G technology, traditional caching schemes have faced challenges in adapting to increasingly complex and dynamic network environments. Consequently, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) offers a promising solution for intelligent zero-touch network governance. However, the black-box nature of DRL models poses challenges in understanding and making trusting decisions. In this paper, we propose an explainable reinforcement learning (XRL)-based intelligent edge service caching approach, namely XRL-SHAP-Cache, which combines DRL with an explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) technique for cache management in CDNs. Instead of focusing solely on achieving performance gains, this study introduces a novel paradigm for providing interpretable caching strategies, thereby establishing a foundation for future transparent and trustworthy edge caching solutions. Specifically, a multi-level cache scheduling framework for CDNs was formulated theoretically, with the D3QN-based caching scheme serving as the targeted interpretable model. Subsequently, by integrating Deep-SHAP into our framework, the contribution of each state input feature to the agent’s Q-value output was calculated, thereby providing valuable insights into the decision-making process. The proposed XRL-SHAP-Cache approach was evaluated through extensive experiments to demonstrate the behavior of the scheduling agent in the face of different environmental inputs. The results demonstrate its strong explainability under various real-life scenarios while maintaining superior performance compared to traditional caching schemes in terms of cache hit ratio, quality of service (QoS), and space utilization