Lightweight Quantum Agent for Edge Systems: Joint PQC and NOMA Resource Allocation

arXiv cs.AI / 4/30/2026

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Key Points

  • The paper addresses a gap in edge intelligent computing (ICE) research by explicitly modeling the energy overhead introduced by post-quantum cryptography (PQC) modules under NOMA communication.
  • It proposes a lightweight agentic AI framework that performs online, real-time joint optimization for edge mobile devices using a multi-stage stochastic MINLP formulation.
  • Using Lyapunov optimization, the long-term problem is decoupled, and a linear-complexity algorithm is developed to handle nonconvex NOMA power-allocation challenges.
  • Simulation results indicate the approach improves computational throughput while maintaining queue stability and satisfying PQC-related energy constraints.
  • Compared with successive convex approximation (SCA) baselines, the method reduces complexity to O(N) and reports about a 46× speedup for N=35 devices, supporting real-time decisions in dynamic wireless settings.

Abstract

In the context of quantum secure scenarios, existing research on mobile edge devices and intelligent computing and edge (ICE) systems based on the Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) communication model have overlooked the energy consumption overhead of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) modules, and the high complexity of traditional resource allocation algorithms fails to meet the demands of real-time decision-making. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a lightweight agentic AI framework designed for online joint optimization within ICE-enabled mobile devices. The scheme constructs a multi-stage stochastic Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) model that incorporates static power-consumption constraints for PQC modules. Based on Lyapunov optimization theory, the long-term optimization problem is decoupled, and a linear complexity algorithm is proposed to solve the nonconvex challenges of NOMA power allocation . Simulation results verify that the proposed scheme significantly improves computational throughput while ensuring system queue stability and energy consumption constraints. Compared with traditional Successive Convex Approximation (SCA) algorithms, the complexity is reduced to \mathcal{O}(N), achieving a speedup of approximately 46 times when the number of devices N=35, thereby meeting the real-time decision-making requirements in dynamic wireless environments.