Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient-Based Resource Allocation Considering Network Slicing and Device-to-Device Communication in Mobile Networks

Next-generation mobile networks, such as those beyond the 5th generation (B5G) and 6th generation (6G), have diverse network resource demands. Network slicing (NS) and device-to-device (D2D) communication have emerged as promising solutions for network operators. NS is a candidate technology for this scenario, where a single network infrastructure is divided into multiple (virtual) slices to meet different service requirements. Combining D2D and NS can improve spectrum utilization, providing better performance and scalability. This paper addresses the challenging problem of dynamic resource allocation with wireless network slices and D2D communications using deep reinforcement learning (DRL) techniques. More specifically, we propose an approach named DDPG-KRP based on deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) with K-nearest neighbors (KNNs) and reward penalization (RP) for undesirable action elimination to determine the resource allocation policy maximizing long-term rewards. The simulation results show that the DDPG-KRP is an efficient solution for resource allocation in wireless networks with slicing, outperforming other considered DRL algorithms.