Latency Minimization for Movable Relay-Aided D2D-MEC Communication Systems

Device-to-device (D2D)-aided mobile edge computing (MEC) has emerged as a key enabling technology for future sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks. The goal of D2D-MEC is to reduce system latency for edge user equipments (UEs) by enabling access to cloud computing capabilities at the network edge, thereby supporting high transmission rates. To address the vulnerability of communication signals to physical obstructions, we employ relay techniques to enhance system performance and extend coverage. However, relay nodes and base station (BS) are typically equipped with large-scale antenna arrays, which lead to significant implementation costs and limiting practical deployment. To address this issue in a cost-efficient manner without sacrificing system performance, movable antenna (MA) technology is introduced. The key idea of MA technology lies in dynamically optimizing antenna positions to improve system capacity. Therefore, we propose a novel resource allocation framework for an movable relay-aided D2D-MEC system. The proposed scheme jointly optimizes the MA positions at UEs, relays, and the BS, along with the associated beamforming vectors, MEC server resource allocation, and computational task offloading rates. The objective is to minimize the maximum system latency while satisfying both computation and communication rate constraints. Furthermore, considering that current MA control mechanisms primarily rely on mechanical actuation, MA movement delay is incorporated into the latency model to capture the trade-off between antenna mobility and system delay. The resulting optimization problem is non-convex and involves multiple coupled variables. To solve this problem, we develop a parallel and distributed algorithm based on the penalty dual decomposition (PDD) framework, which is further integrated with the successive convex approximation (SCA) method to obtain a suboptimal solution. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm significantly reduces system latency and enhances overall efficiency compared to benchmark schemes employing conventional fixed-position antennas (FPAs) at the relays and BS.