Sustainable Task Offloading in Secure UAV-Assisted Smart Farm Networks: A Multi-Agent DRL With Action Mask Approach
Tingnan Bao, Aisha Syed, W. Sean Kennedy, Melike Erol‐Kantarci
Abstract
The integration of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with mobile edge computing (MEC) and Internet of Things (IoT) technology is crucial for efficient resource management and sustainable agricultural productivity in smart frames. This paper addresses the critical need for optimizing task offloading in secure UAV-assisted smart farm networks, aiming to reduce total delay and energy consumption while maintaining robust security in data communications. We propose a multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based approach using a deep double Q-network (DDQN) with an action mask (AM), designed to manage task offloading dynamically and efficiently. Simulation results demonstrate the superior performance of our method in managing task offloading, highlighting significant improvements in operational efficiency, such as reduced delay and energy consumption. This aligns with the goal of developing sustainable and energy-efficient solutions for next-generation network infrastructures, making our approach an advanced solution for performance and sustainability in smart farming applications.