Uplink puncturing for mixed URLLC and eMBB services in 5G-based IWNs: a model-aided DRL method

Abstract

The coexistence of ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) and enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services in 5G-based industrial wireless networks (IWNs) poses significant resource slicing challenges due to their inherent performance requirement conflicts. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a puncturing method that uses a model-aided deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithm for URLLC over eMBB services in uplink 5G networks. First, a puncturing-based optimization problem is formulated to maximize the eMBB accumulated rate under strict URLLC latency and reliability constraints. Next, we design a random repetition coding-based contention (RRCC) scheme for sporadic URLLC traffic and derive its analytical reliability model. To jointly optimize the scheduling parameters of URLLC and eMBB, a DRL solution based on the reliability model is developed, which is capable of dynamically adapting to changing environments. The accelerated convergence of the model-aided DRL algorithm is demonstrated using simulations, and the superiority in resource efficiency of the proposed method over existing approaches is validated.