Dynamic Parallel Task Offloading and Sustainable On-Board Computing for Delay-Energy Optimization LEO Networks

Abstract

Task offloading among low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites with on-board computing (OBC) is important for real-time applications. However, OBC is constrained by the battery capacity of LEO, which fluctuates with orbital dynamics and available solar power. This paper addresses the problem of energy sustainability and timeliness in LEO-OBC systems by proposing a sustainable OBC-LEO framework that combines parallel offloading strategies with dynamic energy management. This problem is formulated as a Markov decision process aiming to minimize the overall delay while satisfying the LEO satellite energy constraints and achieving a high task success rate. To balance immediate computational demands and long-term energy stability, a Lyapunov optimization-based dynamic parallel offloading (LODPO) algorithm is designed to make decisions dynamically within each time slot, integrated with subtask allocation based on a low-cost (SABLC) algorithm that dynamically adjusts task allocations. Finally, simulation results demonstrate that the LODPO framework achieves a significant reduction in execution delay, incurring only 34.0% of the delay cost of binary offloading. Most critically, it ensures exceptional reliability, with a task drop rate that is only 8.5% of that seen in binary offloading and 12.0% of that in the DQN-based approach. This ensures high responsiveness and dependability for mission-critical, delay-sensitive applications.