Poonam Lohan

Parisa Fard Moshiri, Poonam Lohan, Burak Kantarci et al.

Service Function Chaining (SFC) requires efficient placement of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) to satisfy diverse service requirements while maintaining high resource utilization in Data Centers (DCs). Conventional static resource allocation often leads to overprovisioning or underprovisioning due to the dynamic nature of traffic loads and application demands. To address this challenge, we propose a hybrid forecast-driven Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) framework that combines predictive intelligence with SFC provisioning. Specifically, we leverage DRL to generate datasets capturing DC resource utilization and service demands, which are then used to train deep learning forecasting models. Using Optuna-based hyperparameter optimization, the best-performing models, Spatio-Temporal Graph Neural Network, Temporal Graph Neural Network, and Long Short-Term Memory, are combined into an ensemble to enhance stability and accuracy. The ensemble predictions are integrated into the DC selection process, enabling proactive placement decisions that consider both current and future resource availability. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method not only sustains high acceptance ratios for resource-intensive services such as Cloud Gaming and VoIP but also significantly improves acceptance ratios for latency-critical categories such as Augmented Reality increases from 30% to 50%, while Industry 4.0 improves from 30% to 45%. Consequently, the prediction-based model achieves significantly lower E2E latencies of 20.5%, 23.8%, and 34.8% reductions for VoIP, Video Streaming, and Cloud Gaming, respectively. This strategy ensures more balanced resource allocation, and reduces contention.

Xuli Cai, Poonam Lohan, Sachin Ravikant Trankatwar et al.

In this paper, we investigate delay-aware task offloading and resource scheduling in a three-tier space-air-ground integrated network (SAGIN) consisting of IoT devices, UAV edge nodes, and a high-altitude platform station (HAPS). We formulate joint task association and continuous resource control (including bandwidth, transmit power, and CPU frequency allocation) as a non-convex mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem, which is inherently NP-hard. To capture fine-grained system dynamics, we introduce a macro-micro slot model that tracks cumulative transmission and computation progress over time. Based on this model, we propose HALO, a hierarchical auction-assisted learning framework that combines auction-based task association with hierarchical Proximal Policy Optimization (HPPO) for resource allocation. Simulation results under different traffic loads show that HALO consistently outperforms representative deep reinforcement learning (DRL) baselines. In particular, HALO achieves an average improvement of 8.7 percentage points in task success rate over PPO (corresponding to an 11.4% relative gain) and shows consistently greater robustness than DDPG and SAC, with relative improvements of 32.4% and 89.9%, respectively. These results highlight HALO's ability to maintain stable and efficient performance under varying traffic conditions, making it well-suited for delay-sensitive SAGIN environments.

Murat Arda Onsu, Poonam Lohan, Burak Kantarci et al.

A robust and efficient traffic monitoring system is essential for smart cities and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), using sensors and cameras to track vehicle movements, optimize traffic flow, reduce congestion, enhance road safety, and enable real-time adaptive traffic control. Traffic monitoring models must comprehensively understand dynamic urban conditions and provide an intuitive user interface for effective management. This research leverages the LLaVA visual grounding multimodal large language model (LLM) for traffic monitoring tasks on the real-time Quanser Interactive Lab simulation platform, covering scenarios like intersections, congestion, and collisions. Cameras placed at multiple urban locations collect real-time images from the simulation, which are fed into the LLaVA model with queries for analysis. An instance segmentation model integrated into the cameras highlights key elements such as vehicles and pedestrians, enhancing training and throughput. The system achieves 84.3% accuracy in recognizing vehicle locations and 76.4% in determining steering direction, outperforming traditional models.

Murat Arda Onsu, Poonam Lohan, Burak Kantarci

The evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its subset Deep Learning (DL), has profoundly impacted numerous domains, including autonomous driving. The integration of autonomous driving in military settings reduces human casualties and enables precise and safe execution of missions in hazardous environments while allowing for reliable logistics support without the risks associated with fatigue-related errors. However, relying on autonomous driving solely requires an advanced decision-making model that is adaptable and optimum in any situation. Considering the presence of numerous interconnected autonomous vehicles in mission-critical scenarios, Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) is vital for ensuring seamless coordination, real-time data exchange, and instantaneous response to dynamic driving environments. The advent of 6G strengthens the Internet of Automated Defense Vehicles (IoADV) concept within the realm of Internet of Military Defense Things (IoMDT) by enabling robust connectivity, crucial for real-time data exchange, advanced navigation, and enhanced safety features through IoADV interactions. On the other hand, a critical advancement in this space is using pre-trained Generative Large Language Models (LLMs) for decision-making and communication optimization for autonomous driving. Hence, this work presents opportunities and challenges with a vision of realizing the full potential of these technologies in critical defense applications, especially through the advancement of IoADV and its role in enhancing autonomous military operations.

Parisa Fard Moshiri, Murat Arda Onsu, Poonam Lohan et al.

Efficient Service Function Chain (SFC) provisioning and Virtual Network Function (VNF) placement are critical for enhancing network performance in modern architectures such as Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). While Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) aids decision-making in dynamic network environments, its reliance on structured inputs and predefined rules limits adaptability in unforeseen scenarios. Additionally, incorrect actions by a DRL agent may require numerous training iterations to correct, potentially reinforcing suboptimal policies and degrading performance. This paper integrates DRL with Language Models (LMs), specifically Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) and DistilBERT, to enhance network management. By feeding final VNF allocations from DRL into the LM, the system can process and respond to queries related to SFCs, DCs, and VNFs, enabling real-time insights into resource utilization, bottleneck detection, and future demand planning. The LMs are fine-tuned to our domain-specific dataset using Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA). Results show that BERT outperforms DistilBERT with a lower test loss (0.28 compared to 0.36) and higher confidence (0.83 compared to 0.74), though BERT requires approximately 46% more processing time.

Murat Arda Onsu, Poonam Lohan, Burak Kantarci et al.

Real-time urban traffic surveillance is vital for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to ensure road safety, optimize traffic flow, track vehicle trajectories, and prevent collisions in smart cities. Deploying edge cameras across urban environments is a standard practice for monitoring road conditions. However, integrating these with intelligent models requires a robust understanding of dynamic traffic scenarios and a responsive interface for user interaction. Although multimodal Large Language Models (LLMs) can interpret traffic images and generate informative responses, their deployment on edge devices is infeasible due to high computational demands. Therefore, LLM inference must occur on the cloud, necessitating visual data transmission from edge to cloud, a process hindered by limited bandwidth, leading to potential delays that compromise real-time performance. To address this challenge, we propose a semantic communication framework that significantly reduces transmission overhead. Our method involves detecting Regions of Interest (RoIs) using YOLOv11, cropping relevant image segments, and converting them into compact embedding vectors using a Vision Transformer (ViT). These embeddings are then transmitted to the cloud, where an image decoder reconstructs the cropped images. The reconstructed images are processed by a multimodal LLM to generate traffic condition descriptions. This approach achieves a 99.9% reduction in data transmission size while maintaining an LLM response accuracy of 89% for reconstructed cropped images, compared to 93% accuracy with original cropped images. Our results demonstrate the efficiency and practicality of ViT and LLM-assisted edge-cloud semantic communication for real-time traffic surveillance.

Parisa Fard Moshiri, Xinyu Zhu, Poonam Lohan et al.

Effective management of Service Function Chains (SFCs) and optimal Virtual Network Function (VNF) placement are critical challenges in modern Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) environments. Although Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) is widely adopted for dynamic network decision-making, its inherent dependency on structured data and fixed action rules often limits adaptability and responsiveness, particularly under unpredictable network conditions. This paper introduces LiLM-RDB-SFC, a novel approach combining Lightweight Language Model (LiLM) with Relational Database (RDB) to answer network state queries to guide DRL model for efficient SFC provisioning. Our proposed approach leverages two LiLMs, Bidirectional and Auto-Regressive Transformers (BART) and the Fine-tuned Language Net T5 (FLAN-T5), to interpret network data and support diverse query types related to SFC demands, data center resources, and VNF availability. Results demonstrate that FLAN-T5 outperforms BART with a lower test loss (0.00161 compared to 0.00734), higher accuracy (94.79% compared to 80.2%), and less processing time (2h 2min compared to 2h 38min). Moreover, when compared to the large language model SQLCoder, FLAN-T5 matches the accuracy of SQLCoder while cutting processing time by 96% (SQLCoder: 54 h 43 min; FLAN-T5: 2 h 2 min).