We consider a seller who offers services to a buyer with multi-unit demand. Prior to the realization of demand, the buyer receives a noisy signal of their future demand, and the seller can design contracts based on the reported value of this signal. Thus, the buyer can contract with the service provider for an unknown level of future consumption, such as in the market for cloud computing resources or software services. We characterize the optimal dynamic contract, extending the classic sequential screening framework to a nonlinear and multi-unit setting. The optimal mechanism gives discounts to buyers who report higher signals, but in exchange they must provide larger fixed payments. We then describe how the optimal mechanism can be implemented by two common forms of contracts observed in practice, the two-part tariff and the committed spend contract. Finally, we use extensions of our base model to shed light on policy-focused questions, such as analyzing how the optimal contract changes when the buyer faces commitment costs, or when there are liquid spot markets.
We study the robust sequential screening problem of a monopolist seller of multiple cloud computing services facing a buyer who has private information about his demand distribution for these services. At the time of contracting, the buyer knows the distribution of his demand of various services and the seller simply knows the mean of the buyer's total demand. We show that a simple "committed spend mechanism" is robustly optimal: it provides the seller with the highest profit guarantee against all demand distributions that have the known total mean demand. This mechanism requires the buyer to commit to a minimum total usage and a corresponding base payment; the buyer can choose the individual quantities of each service and is free to consume additional units (over the committed total usage) at a fixed marginal price. This result provides theoretical support for prevalent cloud computing pricing practices while highlighting the robustness of simple pricing schemes in environments with complex uncertainty.
The rapid adoption of pervasive and mobile computing has led to an unprecedented rate of data production and consumption by mobile applications at the network edge. These applications often require interactions such as data exchange, behavior coordination, and collaboration, which are typically mediated by cloud servers. While cloud computing has been effective for distributed systems, challenges like latency, cost, and intermittent connectivity persist. With the advent of 5G technology, features like location-awareness and device-to-device (D2D) communication enable a more distributed and adaptive architecture. This paper introduces Self-Organizing Interaction Spaces (SOIS), a novel framework for engineering pervasive applications. SOIS leverages the dynamic and heterogeneous nature of mobile nodes, allowing them to form adaptive organizational structures based on their individual and social contexts. The framework provides two key abstractions for modeling and programming pervasive applications using an organizational mindset and mechanisms for adapting dynamic organizational structures. Case examples and performance evaluations of a simulated mobile crowd-sensing application demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of SOIS. Results highlight its potential to enhance efficiency and reduce reliance on traditional cloud models, paving the way for innovative solutions in mobile and distributed environments.
ABSTRACT Workflow Scheduling is a huge challenge in cloud paradigm as many number of workflows dynamically generated from various heterogeneous resources and task dependencies in each workflow varies from each other. Therefore, if a workflow with more number of dependencies is not scheduled onto an appropriate Virtual Machine i.e. with low processing capacity which leads to delay in executing workflows and it results in increase of makespan, cost, energy consumption. In order to effectively schedule complex workflows i.e. with more task dependencies, we propose a novel multi objective workflow scheduling algorithm using Deep reinforcement Learning. Initially, priorities of all workflows calculated based on their dependencies and then calculated priorities of VMs based on electricity cost at datacenters to map workflows onto precise VMs. These priorities are fed to scheduler which uses Deep Q-Network model to dynamically schedule tasks by considering both priorities of tasks and VMs. Extensive simulations carried out on workflowsim by considering realtime scientific workflows (Montage, cybershake, Epigenomics, LIGO). Our proposed MOPWSDRL compared against existing state of art approaches i.e. Heterogeneous Earliest First Deadline, Cat Swarm Optimization, Ant Colony Optimization. Results revealed that our proposed MOPDSWRLoutperforms existing state of art algorithms by minimizing makespan, energy consumption.
In mmWave wireless networks, signal blockages present a significant challenge due to the susceptibility to environmental moving obstructions. Recently, the availability of visual data has been leveraged to enhance blockage prediction accuracy in mmWave networks. In this work, we propose a Vision Transformer (ViT)-based approach for visual-aided blockage prediction that intelligently switches between mmWave and Sub-6 GHz frequencies to maximize network throughput and maintain reliable connectivity. Given the computational demands of processing visual data, we implement our solution within a hierarchical fog-cloud computing architecture, where fog nodes collaborate with cloud servers to efficiently manage computational tasks. This structure incorporates a generative AI-based compression technique that significantly reduces the volume of visual data transmitted between fog nodes and cloud centers. Our proposed method is tested with the real-world DeepSense 6G dataset, and according to the simulation results, it achieves a blockage prediction accuracy of 92.78% while reducing bandwidth usage by 70.31%.
Facial recognition models are increasingly employed by commercial enterprises, government agencies, and cloud service providers for identity verification, consumer services, and surveillance. These models are often trained using vast amounts of facial data processed and stored in cloud-based platforms, raising significant privacy concerns. Users' facial images may be exploited without their consent, leading to potential data breaches and misuse. This survey presents a comprehensive review of current methods aimed at preserving facial image privacy in cloud-based services. We categorize these methods into two primary approaches: image obfuscation-based protection and adversarial perturbation-based protection. We provide an in-depth analysis of both categories, offering qualitative and quantitative comparisons of their effectiveness. Additionally, we highlight unresolved challenges and propose future research directions to improve privacy preservation in cloud computing environments.
Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have gained considerable traction in recent years due to the unparalleled results they gathered. However, the cost behind training such sophisticated models is resource intensive, resulting in many to consider DNNs to be intellectual property (IP) to model owners. In this era of cloud computing, high-performance DNNs are often deployed all over the internet so that people can access them publicly. As such, DNN watermarking schemes, especially backdoor-based watermarks, have been actively developed in recent years to preserve proprietary rights. Nonetheless, there lies much uncertainty on the robustness of existing backdoor watermark schemes, towards both adversarial attacks and unintended means such as fine-tuning neural network models. One reason for this is that no complete guarantee of robustness can be assured in the context of backdoor-based watermark. In this paper, we extensively evaluate the persistence of recent backdoor-based watermarks within neural networks in the scenario of fine-tuning, we propose/develop a novel data-driven idea to restore watermark after fine-tuning without exposing the trigger set. Our empirical results show that by solely introducing training data after fine-tuning, the watermark can be restored if model parameters do not shift dramatically during fine-tuning. Depending on the types of trigger samples used, trigger accuracy can be reinstated to up to 100%. Our study further explores how the restoration process works using loss landscape visualization, as well as the idea of introducing training data in fine-tuning stage to alleviate watermark vanishing.
Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) systems play a pivotal role in securing enterprise infrastructures. However, the complexity of implementing these systems requires careful architectural planning to ensure positive Return on Investment (RoI) and avoid costly delays. The proliferation of Active Persistent cyber threats, coupled with advancements in AI, cloud computing, and geographically distributed customer populations, necessitates a paradigm shift towards adaptive and zero-trust security frameworks. This paper introduces the Combined Hyper-Extensible Extremely-Secured Zero-Trust (CHEZ) CIAM-PAM architecture, designed specifically for large-scale enterprises. The CHEZ PL CIAM-PAM framework addresses critical security gaps by integrating federated identity management (private and public identities), password-less authentication, adaptive multi-factor authentication (MFA), microservice-based PEP (Policy Entitlement Point), multi-layer RBAC (Role Based Access Control) and multi-level trust systems. This future-proof design also includes end-to-end data encryption, and seamless integration with state-of-the-art AI-based threat detection systems, while ensuring compliance with stringent regulatory standards.
Cloud computing has revolutionized the provisioning of computing resources, offering scalable, flexible, and on-demand services to meet the diverse requirements of modern applications. At the heart of efficient cloud operations are job scheduling and resource management, which are critical for optimizing system performance and ensuring timely and cost-effective service delivery. However, the dynamic and heterogeneous nature of cloud environments presents significant challenges for these tasks, as workloads and resource availability can fluctuate unpredictably. Traditional approaches, including heuristic and meta-heuristic algorithms, often struggle to adapt to these real-time changes due to their reliance on static models or predefined rules. Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) has emerged as a promising solution to these challenges by enabling systems to learn and adapt policies based on continuous observations of the environment, facilitating intelligent and responsive decision-making. This survey provides a comprehensive review of DRL-based algorithms for job scheduling and resource management in cloud computing, analyzing their methodologies, performance metrics, and practical applications. We also highlight emerging trends and future research directions, offering valuable insights into leveraging DRL to advance both job scheduling and resource management in cloud computing.
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) continue to experience rapid developments and integration into modern-day applications. Overall, WSNs collect and process relevant data through sensors or nodes and communicate with different networks for superior information management. Nevertheless, a primary concern relative to WSNs is security. Considering the high constraints on throughput, battery, processing power, and memory, typical security procedures present limitations for application in WSNs. This research focuses on the integration of WSNs with the cloud platform, specifically to address these security risks. The cloud platform also adopts a security-driven approach and has attracted many applications across various sectors globally. This research specifically explores how cloud computing could be exploited to impede Denial of Service attacks from endangering WSNs. WSNs are now deployed in various low-powered applications, including disaster management, homeland security, battlefield surveillance, agriculture, and the healthcare industry. WSNs are distinguished from traditional networks by the numerous wireless connected sensors being deployed to conduct an assigned task. In testing scenarios, the size of WSNs ranges from a few to several thousand. The overarching requirements of WSNs include rapid processing of collected data, low-cost installation and maintenance, and low latency in network operations. Given that a substantial amount of WSN applications are used in high-risk and volatile environments, they must effectively address security concerns. This includes the secure movement, storage, and communication of data through networks, an environment in which WSNs are notably vulnerable. The limitations of WSNs have meant that they are predominantly used in unsecured applications despite positive advancements. This study explores methods for integrating the WSN with the cloud.
The rapid evolution of cloud computing technologies and the increasing number of cloud applications have provided a large number of benefits in daily lives. However, the diversity and complexity of different components pose a significant challenge to cloud security, especially when dealing with sophisticated and advanced cyberattacks. Recent advancements in generative foundation models (GFMs), particularly in the large language models (LLMs), offer promising solutions for security intelligence. By exploiting the powerful abilities in language understanding, data analysis, task inference, action planning, and code generation, we present LLM-PD, a novel proactive defense architecture that defeats various threats in a proactive manner. LLM-PD can efficiently make a decision through comprehensive data analysis and sequential reasoning, as well as dynamically creating and deploying actionable defense mechanisms on the target cloud. Furthermore, it can flexibly self-evolve based on experience learned from previous interactions and adapt to new attack scenarios without additional training. The experimental results demonstrate its remarkable ability in terms of defense effectiveness and efficiency, particularly highlighting an outstanding success rate when compared with other existing methods.
The International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)-2030 framework recently adopted by the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) envisions 6G networks to deliver intelligent, seamless connectivity that supports reliable, sustainable, and resilient communications. Recent developments in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Releases 17-19, particularly within the Radio Access Network (RAN)4 working group addressing satellite and cellular spectrum sharing and RAN2 enhancing New Radio (NR)/IoT for NTN, highlight the critical role NTN is set to play in the evolution of 6G standards. The integration of advanced signal processing, edge and cloud computing, and Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and aerial platforms, such as Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and high-, medium-, and low-altitude platform stations, has revolutionized the convergence of space, aerial, and Terrestrial Networks (TN). Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered deployments for NTN and NTN-IoT, combined with Next Generation Multiple Access (NGMA) technologies, have dramatically reshaped global connectivity. This tutorial paper provides a comprehensive exploration of emerging NTN-based 6G wireless networks, covering vision, alignment with 5G-Advanced and 6G standards, key principles, trends, challenges, real-world applications, and novel problem solving frameworks. It examines essential enabling technologies like AI for NTN (LEO satellites and aerial platforms), DRL, edge computing for NTN, AI for NTN trajectory optimization, Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS)-enhanced NTN, and robust Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) beamforming. Furthermore, it addresses interference management through NGMA, including Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) for NTN, and the use of aerial platforms for access, relay, and fronthaul/backhaul connectivity.
The rapid development of cloud-native architecture has promoted the widespread application of container technology, but the optimization problems in container scheduling and resource management still face many challenges. This paper proposes a container scheduling method based on multi-objective optimization, which aims to balance key performance indicators such as resource utilization, load balancing and task completion efficiency. By introducing optimization models and heuristic algorithms, the scheduling strategy is comprehensively improved, and experimental verification is carried out using the real Google Cluster Data dataset. The experimental results show that compared with traditional static rule algorithms and heuristic algorithms, the optimized scheduling scheme shows significant advantages in resource utilization, load balancing and burst task completion efficiency. This shows that the proposed method can effectively improve resource management efficiency and ensure service quality and system stability in complex dynamic cloud environments. At the same time, this paper also explores the future development direction of scheduling algorithms in multi-tenant environments, heterogeneous cloud computing, and cross-edge and cloud collaborative computing scenarios, and proposes research prospects for energy consumption optimization, adaptive scheduling and fairness. The research results not only provide a theoretical basis and practical reference for container scheduling under cloud-native architecture, but also lay a foundation for further realizing intelligent and efficient resource management.
With the vigorous development of cloud computing, most organizations have shifted their data and applications to the cloud environment for storage, computation, and sharing purposes. During storage and data sharing across the participating entities, a malicious agent may gain access to outsourced data from the cloud environment. A malicious agent is an entity that deliberately breaches the data. This information accessed might be misused or revealed to unauthorized parties. Therefore, data protection and prediction of malicious agents have become a demanding task that needs to be addressed appropriately. To deal with this crucial and challenging issue, this paper presents a Malicious Agent Identification-based Data Security (MAIDS) Model which utilizes XGBoost machine learning classification algorithm for securing data allocation and communication among different participating entities in the cloud system. The proposed model explores and computes intended multiple security parameters associated with online data communication or transactions. Correspondingly, a security-focused knowledge database is produced for developing the XGBoost Classifier-based Malicious Agent Prediction (XC-MAP) unit. Unlike the existing approaches, which only identify malicious agents after data leaks, MAIDS proactively identifies malicious agents by examining their eligibility for respective data access. In this way, the model provides a comprehensive solution to safeguard crucial data from both intentional and non-intentional breaches, by granting data to authorized agents only by evaluating the agents behavior and predicting the malicious agent before granting data.
The rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years has profoundly reshaped modern lifestyles, necessitating a revolutionary architecture to support the growing demands for computational power. Cloud computing has become the driving force behind this transformation. However, it consumes significant power and faces computation security risks due to the reliance on extensive data centers and servers in the cloud. Reducing power consumption while enhancing computational scale remains persistent challenges in cloud computing. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an optical cloud computing system that can be seamlessly deployed across edge-metro network. By modulating inputs and models into light, a wide range of edge nodes can directly access the optical computing center via the edge-metro network. The experimental validations show an energy efficiency of 118.6 mW/TOPs (tera operations per second), reducing energy consumption by two orders of magnitude compared to traditional electronic-based cloud computing solutions. Furthermore, it is experimentally validated that this architecture can perform various complex generative AI models through parallel computing to achieve image generation tasks.
Device-to-device (D2D)-assisted mobile edge computing (MEC) is one of the critical technologies of future sixth generation (6G) networks. The core of D2D-assisted MEC is to reduce system latency for network edge UEs by supporting cloud computing services, thereby achieving high-speed transmission. Due to the sensitivity of communication signals to obstacles, relaying is adopted to enhance the D2D-assisted MEC system's performance and its coverage area. However, relay nodes and the base station (BS) are typically equipped with large-scale antenna arrays. This increases the cost of relay-assisted D2D MEC systems and limits their deployment. Movable antenna (MA) technology is used to work around this limitation without compromising performance. Specifically, the core of MA technology lies in optimizing the antenna positions to increase system capacity. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel resource allocation scheme for MA-enhanced relay-assisted D2D MEC systems. Specifically, the MA positions and beamforming of user equipments (UEs), relay, and BS as well as the allocation of resources and the computation task offloading rate at the MEC server, all are optimized herein with the objective of minimizing the maximum latency while satisfying computation and communication rate constraints. Since this is a multivariable non-convex problem, a parallel and distributed penalty dual decomposition (PDD) based algorithm is developed and combined with successive convex approximation (SCA) to solve this non-convex problem. The results of extensive numerical analyses show that the proposed algorithm significantly improves the performance of the MA-enhanced relay-assisted D2D communication system compared to a counterpart where relays and the BS are equiped with traditional fixed-position antenna (FPA).
Cloud robotics enables robots to offload complex computational tasks to cloud servers for performance and ease of management. However, cloud compute can be costly, cloud services can suffer occasional downtime, and connectivity between the robot and cloud can be prone to variations in network Quality-of-Service (QoS). We present FogROS2-FT (Fault Tolerant) to mitigate these issues by introducing a multi-cloud extension that automatically replicates independent stateless robotic services, routes requests to these replicas, and directs the first response back. With replication, robots can still benefit from cloud computations even when a cloud service provider is down or there is low QoS. Additionally, many cloud computing providers offer low-cost spot computing instances that may shutdown unpredictably. Normally, these low-cost instances would be inappropriate for cloud robotics, but the fault tolerance nature of FogROS2-FT allows them to be used reliably. We demonstrate FogROS2-FT fault tolerance capabilities in 3 cloud-robotics scenarios in simulation (visual object detection, semantic segmentation, motion planning) and 1 physical robot experiment (scan-pick-and-place). Running on the same hardware specification, FogROS2-FT achieves motion planning with up to 2.2x cost reduction and up to a 5.53x reduction on 99 Percentile (P99) long-tail latency. FogROS2-FT reduces the P99 long-tail latency of object detection and semantic segmentation by 2.0x and 2.1x, respectively, under network slowdown and resource contention.
Generative AI is transforming enterprise application development by enabling machines to create content, code, and designs. These models, however, demand substantial computational power and data management. Cloud computing addresses these needs by offering infrastructure to train, deploy, and scale generative AI models. This review examines cloud services for generative AI, focusing on key providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud. It compares their strengths, weaknesses, and impact on enterprise growth. We explore the role of high-performance computing (HPC), serverless architectures, edge computing, and storage in supporting generative AI. We also highlight the significance of data management, networking, and AI-specific tools in building and deploying these models. Additionally, the review addresses security concerns, including data privacy, compliance, and AI model protection. It assesses the performance and cost efficiency of various cloud providers and presents case studies from healthcare, finance, and entertainment. We conclude by discussing challenges and future directions, such as technical hurdles, vendor lock-in, sustainability, and regulatory issues. Put together, this work can serve as a guide for practitioners and researchers looking to adopt cloud-based generative AI solutions, serving as a valuable guide to navigating the intricacies of this evolving field.
With the rapid development of large language models (LLMs), which possess powerful natural language processing and generation capabilities, LLMs are poised to provide more natural and personalized user experiences. Their deployment on mobile devices is gradually becoming a significant trend in the field of intelligent devices. LLMs have demonstrated tremendous potential in applications such as voice assistants, real-time translation, and intelligent recommendations. Advancements in hardware technologies (such as neural network accelerators) and network infrastructure (such as 5G) have enabled efficient local inference and low-latency intelligent responses on mobile devices. This reduces reliance on cloud computing while enhancing data privacy and security. Developers can easily integrate LLM functionalities through open APIs and SDKs, enabling the creation of more innovative intelligent applications. The widespread use of LLMs not only enhances the intelligence of mobile devices but also fosters the integrated innovation of fields like augmented reality (AR) and the Internet of Things (IoT). This trend is expected to drive the development of the next generation of mobile intelligent applications.
Cell-free massive MIMO improves the fairness among the user equipments (UEs) in the network by distributing many cooperating access points (APs) around the region while connecting them to a centralized cloud-computing unit that coordinates joint transmission/reception. However, the fiber cable deployment for the fronthaul transport network and activating all available antennas at each AP lead to increased deployment cost and power consumption for fronthaul signaling and processing. To overcome these challenges, in this work, we consider wireless fronthaul connections and propose a joint antenna activation and power allocation algorithm to minimize the end-to-end (from radio to cloud) power while satisfying the quality-of-service requirements of the UEs under wireless fronthaul capacity limitations. The results demonstrate that the proposed methodology of deactivating antennas at each AP reduces the power consumption by 50% and 84% compared to the benchmarks based on shutting down APs and minimizing only the transmit power, respectively.