Performance Optimization of Energy-Harvesting Underlay Cognitive Radio Networks Using Reinforcement Learning

In this paper, a reinforcement learning technique is employed to maximize the performance of a cognitive radio network (CRN). In the presence of primary users (PUs), it is presumed that two secondary users (SUs) access the licensed band within underlay mode. In addition, the SU transmitter is assumed to be an energy-constrained device that requires harvesting energy in order to transmit signals to their intended destination. Therefore, we propose that there are two main sources of energy; the interference of PUs' transmissions and ambient radio frequency (RF) sources. The SU will select whether to gather energy from PUs or only from ambient sources based on a predetermined threshold. The process of energy harvesting from the PUs' messages is accomplished via the time switching approach. In addition, based on a deep Q-network (DQN) approach, the SU transmitter determines whether to collect energy or transmit messages during each time slot as well as selects the suitable transmission power in order to maximize its average data rate. Our approach outperforms a baseline strategy and converges, as shown by our findings.

Enhancing Network Anomaly Detection with Quantum GANs and Successive Data Injection for Multivariate Time Series

Quantum computing may offer new approaches for advancing machine learning, including in complex tasks such as anomaly detection in network traffic. In this paper, we introduce a quantum generative adversarial network (QGAN) architecture for multivariate time-series anomaly detection that leverages variational quantum circuits (VQCs) in combination with a time-window shifting technique, data re-uploading, and successive data injection (SuDaI). The method encodes multivariate time series data as rotation angles. By integrating both data re-uploading and SuDaI, the approach maps classical data into quantum states efficiently, helping to address hardware limitations such as the restricted number of available qubits. In addition, the approach employs an anomaly scoring technique that utilizes both the generator and the discriminator output to enhance the accuracy of anomaly detection. The QGAN was trained using the parameter shift rule and benchmarked against a classical GAN. Experimental results indicate that the quantum model achieves a accuracy high along with high recall and F1-scores in anomaly detection, and attains a lower MSE compared to the classical model. Notably, the QGAN accomplishes this performance with only 80 parameters, demonstrating competitive results with a compact architecture. Tests using a noisy simulator suggest that the approach remains effective under realistic noise-prone conditions.

LatentQGAN: A Hybrid QGAN with Classical Convolutional Autoencoder

Quantum machine learning consists in taking advantage of quantum computations to generate classical data. A potential application of quantum machine learning is to harness the power of quantum computers for generating classical data, a process essential to a multitude of applications such as enriching training datasets, anomaly detection, and risk management in finance. Given the success of Generative Adversarial Networks in classical image generation, the development of its quantum versions has been actively conducted. However, existing implementations on quantum computers often face significant challenges, such as scalability and training convergence issues. To address these issues, we propose LatentQGAN, a novel quantum model that uses a hybrid quantum-classical GAN coupled with an autoencoder. Although it was initially designed for image generation, the LatentQGAN approach holds potential for broader application across various practical data generation tasks. Experimental outcomes on both classical simulators and noisy intermediate scale quantum computers have demonstrated significant performance enhancements over existing quantum methods, alongside a significant reduction in quantum resources overhead.

QuaCK-TSF: Quantum-Classical Kernelized Time Series Forecasting

Forecasting in probabilistic time series is a complex endeavor that extends beyond predicting future values to also quantifying the uncertainty inherent in these predictions. Gaussian process regression stands out as a Bayesian machine learning technique adept at addressing this multifaceted challenge. This paper introduces a novel approach that blends the robustness of this Bayesian technique with the nuanced insights provided by the kernel perspective on quantum models, aimed at advancing quantum kernelized probabilistic forecasting. We incorporate a quantum feature map inspired by Ising interactions and demonstrate its effectiveness in capturing the temporal dependencies critical for precise forecasting. The optimization of our model's hyperparameters circumvents the need for computationally intensive gradient descent by employing gradient-free Bayesian optimization. Comparative benchmarks against established classical kernel models are provided, affirming that our quantum-enhanced approach achieves competitive performance.

MistralBSM: Leveraging Mistral-7B for Vehicular Networks Misbehavior Detection

Vehicular networks are exposed to various threats resulting from malicious attacks. These threats compromise the security and reliability of communications among road users, thereby jeopardizing road and traffic safety. One of the main vectors of these attacks within vehicular networks is misbehaving vehicles. To address this challenge, we propose deploying a pretrained Large Language Model (LLM)-empowered Misbehavior Detection System (MDS) within an edge-cloud detection framework. Specifically, we fine-tune Mistral-7B, a state-of-the-art LLM, as the edge component to enable real-time detection, whereas a larger LLM deployed in the cloud can conduct a more comprehensive analysis. Our experiments conducted on the extended VeReMi dataset demonstrate Mistral-7B's superior performance, achieving 98\% accuracy compared to other LLMs such as LLAMA2-7B and RoBERTa. Additionally, we investigate the impact of window size on computational costs to optimize deployment efficiency. Leveraging LLMs in MDS shows interesting results in improving the detection of vehicle misbehavior, consequently strengthening vehicular network security to ensure the safety of road users.

FedPylot: Navigating Federated Learning for Real-Time Object Detection in Internet of Vehicles

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) emerges as a pivotal component for autonomous driving and intelligent transportation systems (ITS), by enabling low-latency big data processing in a dense interconnected network that comprises vehicles, infrastructures, pedestrians and the cloud. Autonomous vehicles are heavily reliant on machine learning (ML) and can strongly benefit from the wealth of sensory data generated at the edge, which calls for measures to reconcile model training with preserving the privacy of sensitive user data. Federated learning (FL) stands out as a promising solution to train sophisticated ML models in vehicular networks while protecting the privacy of road users and mitigating communication overhead. This paper examines the federated optimization of the cutting-edge YOLOv7 model to tackle real-time object detection amid data heterogeneity, encompassing unbalancedness, concept drift, and label distribution skews. To this end, we introduce FedPylot, a lightweight MPI-based prototype to simulate federated object detection experiments on high-performance computing (HPC) systems, where we safeguard server-client communications using hybrid encryption. Our study factors in accuracy, communication cost, and inference speed, thereby presenting a balanced approach to the challenges faced by autonomous vehicles. We demonstrate promising results for the applicability of FL in IoV and hope that FedPylot will provide a basis for future research into federated real-time object detection. The source code is available at https://github.com/cyprienquemeneur/fedpylot.

Successive Data Injection in Conditional Quantum GAN Applied to Time Series Anomaly Detection

Classical GAN architectures have shown interesting results for solving anomaly detection problems in general and for time series anomalies in particular, such as those arising in communication networks. In recent years, several quantum GAN architectures have been proposed in the literature. When detecting anomalies in time series using QGANs, huge challenges arise due to the limited number of qubits compared to the size of the data. To address these challenges, we propose a new high-dimensional encoding approach, named Successive Data Injection (SuDaI). In this approach, we explore a larger portion of the quantum state than that in the conventional angle encoding, the method used predominantly in the literature, through repeated data injections into the quantum state. SuDaI encoding allows us to adapt the QGAN for anomaly detection with network data of a much higher dimensionality than with the existing known QGANs implementations. In addition, SuDaI encoding applies to other types of high-dimensional time series and can be used in contexts beyond anomaly detection and QGANs, opening up therefore multiple fields of application.

Communication and Computation O-RAN Resource Slicing for URLLC Services Using Deep Reinforcement Learning

The evolution of the future beyond-5G/6G networks towards a service-aware network is based on network slicing technology. With network slicing, communication service providers seek to meet all the requirements imposed by the verticals, including ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services. In addition, the open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture paves the way for flexible sharing of network resources by introducing more programmability into the RAN. RAN slicing is an essential part of end-to-end network slicing since it ensures efficient sharing of communication and computation resources. However, due to the stringent requirements of URLLC services and the dynamics of the RAN environment, RAN slicing is challenging. In this article, we propose a two-level RAN slicing approach based on the O-RAN architecture to allocate the communication and computation RAN resources among URLLC end-devices. For each RAN slicing level, we model the resource slicing problem as a single-agent Markov decision process and design a deep reinforcement learning algorithm to solve it. Simulation results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach in meeting the desired quality of service requirements.

Competitive Algorithms and Reinforcement Learning for NOMA in IoT Networks

This paper studies the problem of massive Internet of things (IoT) access in beyond fifth generation (B5G) networks using non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technique. The problem involves massive IoT devices grouping and power allocation in order to respect the low latency as well as the limited operating energy of the IoT devices. The considered objective function, maximizing the number of successfully received IoT packets, is different from the classical sum-rate-related objective functions. The problem is first divided into multiple NOMA grouping subproblems. Then, using competitive analysis, an efficient online competitive algorithm (CA) is proposed to solve each subproblem. Next, to solve the power allocation problem, we propose a new reinforcement learning (RL) framework in which a RL agent learns to use the CA as a black box and combines the obtained solutions to each subproblem to determine the power allocation for each NOMA group. Our simulations results reveal that the proposed innovative RL framework outperforms deep-Q-learning methods and is close-to-optimal.

Towards a Secure and Reliable Federated Learning using Blockchain

Federated learning (FL) is a distributed machine learning (ML) technique that enables collaborative training in which devices perform learning using a local dataset while preserving their privacy. This technique ensures privacy, communication efficiency, and resource conservation. Despite these advantages, FL still suffers from several challenges related to reliability (i.e., unreliable participating devices in training), tractability (i.e., a large number of trained models), and anonymity. To address these issues, we propose a secure and trustworthy blockchain framework (SRB-FL) tailored to FL, which uses blockchain features to enable collaborative model training in a fully distributed and trustworthy manner. In particular, we design a secure FL based on the blockchain sharding that ensures data reliability, scalability, and trustworthiness. In addition, we introduce an incentive mechanism to improve the reliability of FL devices using subjective multi-weight logic. The results show that our proposed SRB-FL framework is efficient and scalable, making it a promising and suitable solution for federated learning.