In the ever-evolving landscape of maritime communications, a novel approach to handling the computational demands of offshore terminals has emerged, promising significant improvements in efficiency and energy savings. Researchers, led by Yanzhu Yu from the College of Information and Communication Engineering at Harbin Engineering University, have introduced a dual-intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) collaborative architecture that aims to revolutionize offshore mobile edge computing (MEC) systems.
The study, published in *Zhongguo Jianchuan Yanjiu* (translated as *Chinese Journal of Ship Research*), addresses the growing challenge of managing compute-intensive tasks in maritime networks. Traditional ocean communication models often struggle to meet the diverse needs of terminals, particularly in terms of energy efficiency and computational capacity. Yu and her team propose a solution that leverages distributed IRS to assist users in offloading tasks to shore-based MEC servers in uplink scenarios.
The research focuses on the joint optimization of base station receiving beamforming, dual IRS joint phase shift matrix, user transmission power, and CPU computing frequency. By designing a joint task offloading and resource allocation algorithm, the team aims to maximize the total computational task volume of the system under communication and computing resource constraints. The non-convex optimization problem is tackled using the block coordinate descent (BCD) idea and an efficient alternating optimization algorithm based on maximal ratio combining (MRC), Lagrange multiplier method, and bisection search.
Simulation results indicate that the proposed dual IRS-aided offshore cooperative offloading scheme can enhance the system’s total computational task volume by approximately 7.03% compared to baseline schemes when the total number of reflective elements is 800. This improvement underscores the potential of introducing a dual IRS collaborative architecture to meet the growing task volume requirements in offshore uplink energy-efficient offloading.
For maritime professionals, this research opens up new avenues for enhancing the performance of maritime communication systems. The dual IRS architecture can significantly improve the efficiency and energy savings of offshore terminals, addressing the limitations of traditional models. As Yanzhu Yu explains, “The offshore uplink energy-efficient offloading to introduce the dual IRS collaborative architecture can improve the total task volume requirement.”
The commercial impacts of this research are substantial. Maritime sectors can benefit from more efficient task offloading and resource allocation, leading to cost savings and improved operational efficiency. The integration of double-intelligent reflecting surfaces into maritime communication systems can pave the way for more robust and scalable solutions, supporting the growing demands of the maritime internet of things (IoT) and other advanced applications.
In summary, the research led by Yanzhu Yu offers a promising solution to the challenges faced by maritime communication systems. By leveraging dual IRS technology, the proposed approach can enhance the computational capacity and energy efficiency of offshore terminals, providing valuable insights for the future of maritime communications.