Sparse Optimization for Green Edge AI Inference

With the rapid upsurge of deep learning tasks at the network edge, effective edge artificial intelligence (AI) inference becomes critical to provide low-latency intelligent services for mobile users via leveraging the edge computing capability. In such scenarios, energy efficiency becomes a primary concern. In this paper, we present a joint inference task selection and downlink beamforming strategy to achieve energy-efficient edge AI inference through minimizing the overall power consumption consisting of both computation and transmission power consumption, yielding a mixed combinatorial optimization problem. By exploiting the inherent connections between the set of task selection and group sparsity structural transmit beamforming vector, we reformulate the optimization as a group sparse beamforming problem. To solve this challenging problem, we propose a log-sum function based three-stage approach. By adopting the log-sum function to enhance the group sparsity, a proximal iteratively reweighted algorithm is developed. Furthermore, we establish the global convergence analysis and provide the ergodic worst-case convergence rate for this algorithm. Simulation results will demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for improving energy efficiency in edge AI inference systems.