Self-Adaptive Probabilistic Skyline Query Processing in Distributed Edge Computing via Deep Reinforcement Learning

TL;DR

This paper introduces SA-PSKY, a self-adaptive framework using deep reinforcement learning to optimize probabilistic skyline query processing at the network edge, significantly reducing communication and response times.

Contribution

It formalizes dynamic threshold adjustment as an MDP and applies DDPG to enable real-time, autonomous optimization in distributed edge-cloud systems.

Findings

Up to 60% reduction in communication overhead.

Up to 40% decrease in total response time.

Robust scalability across diverse data distributions.

Abstract

In the era of the Internet of Everything (IoE), the exponential growth of sensor-generated data at the network edge renders efficient Probabilistic Skyline Query (PSKY) processing a critical challenge. Traditional distributed PSKY methodologies predominantly rely on pre-defined static thresholds to filter local candidates. However, these rigid approaches are fundamentally ill-suited for the highly volatile and heterogeneous nature of edge computing environments, often leading to either severe communication bottlenecks or excessive local computational latency. To resolve this resource conflict, this paper presents SA-PSKY, a novel Self-Adaptive framework designed for distributed edge-cloud collaborative systems. We formalize the dynamic threshold adjustment problem as a continuous Markov Decision Process (MDP) and leverage a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) agent to autonomously optimize filtering intensities in real-time. By intelligently analyzing multi-dimensional system states, including data arrival rates, uncertainty distributions, and instantaneous resource availability, our framework effectively minimizes a joint objective function of computation and communication costs. Comprehensive experimental evaluations demonstrate that SA-PSKY consistently outperforms state-of-the-art static and heuristic baselines. Specifically, it achieves a reduction of up to 60\% in communication overhead and 40\% in total response time, while ensuring robust scalability across diverse data distributions.